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NBC Los Angeles
The George fire in the Sequoia National Forest.
Updated at 5:16 p.m. ET: A wind-driven wildfire raged in the Sequoia National Forest on Monday, devouring at least 1,700 acres of the park in the southern Sierra Nevada.
More than 500 firefighters were battling the blaze, dubbed the George Fire, and more resources were expected to arrive throughout the day, said Michelle Puckett, a fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service.
Firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service evacuated hikers and campers along the Lloyd Meadow Road and at several trailheads.
“We don’t know the number of people evacuated, but we do know that all hikers and campers are out,” Puckett told msnbc.com.
The fire grew from about 1,000 acres on Sunday to 1,700 acres on Monday. The fire was 25 percent contained.
A firefighting aircraft crashed into rugged terrain near the Utah-Nevada border as it dropped retardant on a 5,000-acre wildfire, killing the two Idaho men on board. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
So far, the fire has consumed dead and downed trees in an area of the forest that hasn’t burned in 140 years, Puckett said.
View NBCLosAngeles.com's coverage of fire at Sequoia National Forest
She said fire was still burning away from the forest's legendary sequoia groves. When fully grown, sequoias can grow 20 feet in diameter and reach lofty heights of more than 250 feet.
Puckett said the fire started Friday near a tree named for President George H.W. Bush, who signed a proclamation protecting all groves of giant Sequoias in the Sierra in 1992. The “George Tree” is located in the eastern edge of the Freeman Creek Giant Sequoia Grove, Puckett said.
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I sincerely hope they get this fire under control and extinguished quickly. It is a beautiful area that is threatened.
It is too bad that activists have prevented natural burns in US Forests. Now we will have catastrophic man made events caused by the ignorant environmentalists who didn't understand that lightning causes fires and forests must burn to rejuvenate. These terrible people should be held accountable, but that won't happen. The Liberals protect ignorance and junk science and destroy poor people and the environment - while they shoot themselves up with drugs.
I know you just came to spew hate and all but I don't know anyone that doesn't realize lightning strikes cause wildfires.
You can go back to your ill-informed hating now.
This is apparently what bath salts can do. At least no one's face got chewed off.
Now back to the subject which Jamie so badly steered away from in only the second post on this board.
This is a beautiful area, a place everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. Can't imagine fighting fires amongst these giant trees. Brutal work to be sure. Wish them well. But forest fires happen (often caused by lightning strikes) and this area has endured them before. But that is just "liberal junk science" talking....don't believe a word of it.
You write like you've been shooting drugs.
Gee, now that was original!
Kind of hard to get an old sequoia to burn very bad, when the do burn they usually rebound.
Alvarez - Why a jackass?
Looks like someone needs to put on their big boy pants and seriously consider completing the 8th grade this time around!
Whats with the liberal bashing !? It's the liberals who stand up for our natural resources you dumb fool !!
Sorry Jamie, It was GWB that said that trees are to be cut to prevent fires, when its really the underbrush. This is not a liberal issue. In general, Libs are much more environmental conscience than the Repubs.
ZC, while you're flaming Jamie you might do a little homework yourself.
Thinning / selective cutting are viable tools in forest management.
Conscious?
Fight the good fight firefighters! And people please beware of Smokey the Bear.
Not to take away from your very appropriate comment - just a correction from a Forest Service employee - it's "Smokey Bear" - no "the" :)
It's a forest fire, doesn't matter who is to blame, it's pointless, the task now is to put the fire out. I have driven through there a few times, and it is an amazing place...
Oh yea, burt my toast this morning, its the [insert political party here] fault.
Jamie: "The Liberals protect ignorance and junk science and destroy poor people and the environment - while they shoot themselves up with drugs"
What's your excuse for posting such tripe? Are you ignorant or just high on drugs? (or should I say "low" on drugs?) Chill out!
Fires are to the redwood's advantage.
"The cause is still under investigation..."
Since Al Qaeda came out in their "Inspire" magazine in early May (Google it) calling for their operatives to set forest fires, and we now have huge fires burning in California, Arizona, New Mexico (the biggest fire in its history), Utah, Minnesota, Florida, etc., when is someone in the media going to research the question "Is Al Qaeda burning down the country while the TSA gropes granny"?
Hope they are able to contain this fire quickly and all firefighters get home safely....
Baja5B is correct -- sequoias require periodic burning to allow their seed pods to be opened for germination. The same is true with many species of juniper, as well as most chaparral plants, which either have seed pods opened by intense fires and/or re-sprout from their deep roots. Large sequoias are pretty resistant to burning in brush fires of this nature. Oh, you'll see some fire-blackened bark, but the trees are remarkably impervious to the wild forest fire burning so common throughout the West. Dead "burned" sequoias are really trees that were hit by lightning. They have adapted through the millennia to NEED occasional fires to keep the forest habitat from becoming senescent.
You can keep all of your political retoric to yourself. Sequoia is one of the most spectacular places on earth. It's been around too long to count. It will survive just fine. I hope the firefighters far well also. If you get a chance go see the trees. You won't be disappointed.
"a tree named for President George H.W. Bush"
They have to be kidding. Who would name a tree after "mow em down" Bush?
I don't know about you, but i believe that the 97% of the climate scientists are correct. That global warming is causing these wild fires. It's not just that new mexico & arizona will not hire hispanic fire fighters. No. No. It's because the world is warming due to co2.
So what is being done about it. Cars are getting soooo much better gas mileage now. Plus the prius is now the 3rd best selling car in the world. And the volt is outselling the corvette. And consumer reports will soon finally be testing the 80 mpg 2012 plug-in hybrid prius. It sells for $30K retail but has an out the door price of $40K due to mark-ups. The demand is just tooooo great.
So what is this doing. Well for one thing gasoline consumption is dropping year on year like crazy. And remember when mr grover & the bushman drove the price of oil up to $150/barrel in 2007. The largest oil producer, russia, made a ton of money then. But then due to the economic collapse of 2007, oil prices dropped to the free market price of $34/barrel. The russian people are ready to revolt at current $85/barrel prices. They and the oil industry cannot handle the low prices. It's why mr grover, the gop, & the rushbo have promised the russians that they will build the keystone pipeline. To raise prices of oil & gasoline again. Tar oil makes the most expensive gasoline ever.
But with obama and his chevy volt like cars, i tell you the consumption of gasoline will drop to where it was in 2007. You can expect $34/barrel oil soon if he gets reelected.
Romney himself told you plain & clear. Corporations are people too. Including the oil corporations of russia. Mr grover, the gop, & the rushbo all agree to it. Laughable to be sure but the mr grover, gop, & rushbo supreme court have made decisions which state that the constitution needs to be changed if corporations are not people too. Alarming.
You need to make up your own mind by reading the book 'Corporations Are Not People: Why They Have More Rights Than You Do and What You Can Do About It' [Paperback]by Jeffrey D. Clements. He says that mr grover, the gop,& the rushbo answer to the people & corporations, but not in that order.
Everything mr grover, the gop, & the rushbo does has to do with corporate greed, i mean, corporate profits & ceo pay. And don't forget that ceo's today make millions, 50 times that of the avg worker, and shouldn't be taxed at as high a income tax rate, maybe 14% max like romney, according to mr grover, the gop, & the rushbo.
Support real people. Support occupy.
I just watched a National Geographic Society documentary on Yosemite. In it, they showed how controlled burns are routinely lit to burn off the deadfalls, and because, as said above, Sequoias need the heat for the cones to release their seeds. They have the thickest bark of any tree, and it is saturated with tannin, a fire retardant. They didn't last 3000 years by accident. In the old days, the film says, the Forestry Service would try to put out all fires, which resulted in a huge pileup in brush and deadfalls. When a fire ignites that fuel, the resulting fire is potentially damaging to the big trees. Enlightened management now lets all "naturally caused" fires (via lightning) burn, and controlled burns are used to make up for the years of mismanagement of the early 20th century. This isn't a global warming issue: fires are part of nature's cycle.
However, the documentary shows how scientists are studying the canopy foliage, to see if it is evaporating too quickly due to GW. This is a real threat to Sequoias. The fires are not a threat.
Interesting documentary, available on Netflix streaming. Check it out.
I have to point something out, Sequoias NEED fire, the cones don't open with out it, so this is actually a good thing for the forest, especially if this section hasn't been burned for over a hundred years. This section is obviously in need of some "rejuvenation".
Keep the firefighters at home safe and let it burn. There are not enough forest fires and the underbrush is piling up. these trees have made it for millions of years. I'm thinking they'll be fine.
There you have it. Its George Bush's fault.
We must find the cause of the fires, weather they are Natural or Man made. Precautions must be taken so that such fires do not occur. We must Appreciate the Brave Firefighters who are fighting to contain the fires both on the ground and above the Ground. God Bless Them. GOD BLESS THE USA.
Kevin Valentine Moraes
Mira Road (Thane)
Tree mortality rates have doubled in old-growth forests across the Sierra Nevada and western United States because of rising temperatures associated with climate change, a new study has found.
"Effectively, everywhere we looked we saw mortality rates increasing," said Nathan Stephenson, co-leader of the study and a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Three Rivers near Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. "That to me is a red flag that says there is potentially something pretty big going on."
But living trees are difficult to burn. Dried out dead trees burn like crazy during the summer heat.
I will not debate the science or politics of this issue at this juncture.
My thoughts are for the brave, perhaps insane folks that are dispatched to battle a wildfire. Be well, Stay safe.
AND Thank you for your service.
Time to buy proper water bombers. California leases 2 CL-415s, (San Diego county 3) but only for the fall season when Quebec no longer needs them. A CL-415 holds the record for most water dropped on a fire in 4 hours 160,000 gallons. It refilled mid-flight from a nearby lake 100 times.
I blame Trayvon Martin for this
What do politics have to do with it? This is a natual occurance at times. He will ruin those runing the earth.
I'm heading up there next wk ..hope it's not going to be too smoky !! God I love those trees !