Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON / Getty Images
Two fires in the Sierra Nevada mountains , in California, caused the closure of the Sequoia National Park, which is home to many of the largest trees on the planet, the National Park Service (NPS) reported Wednesday through a statement .
Fire can cause severe damage to the park’s infrastructure and ecosystem . However, the government entity said that the fire department “is fighting hard” to control the fire.
The Colony and Paradise fires have already devastated more than 2, 500 hectares of the Sierra Mountains Nevada , according to the National Forest Fire Coordination Group. Both were recently turned on and there is still no figure of containment of them by the local authorities.
“ Due to forest fire activity In the area, we are closing all entry points to the Secouyas National Park to backpackers and day trippers. All holders of permit reservations will be refunded the full amount “, reads the park statement.
This implies that it is impossible to access, among other places, to the Giant Forest , where there are five of the ten largest trees in the world in terms of their volume, including the popular sequoia known as General Sherman, considered the largest tree on Earth, with 83. 3 meters and a diameter of 11. 1 meter. His age is around 2, 300 years, according to specialists .
However, the NPS also reported that there are sectors of Sequoia National Park that are still open to the public, but with alerts for air quality and smoke circulating through the forest, the mountain due to fires .
Among the largest active fires, the Dixie, which has been burning in the volcanic area of Lassen National Park since mid-July and it is the second largest fire recorded in the state, it is already contained in a 75%, after having razed 389, 000 hectares.
For its part, the Caldor fire, which for several weeks had the residents of the popular recreational area of Lake Tahoe in the Californian Sierra Nevada in suspense, is contained in a 70%, after having burned 88, 000 hectares.
With information from EFE.
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