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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (42441)	8/26/2013 11:15:17 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86356

One of us has stood in the middle of a living redwood and has seen the sky. Here's how it happens. Sequoias (and redwoods) are pretty resistant to fire. Fire in giant sequoia still burning a year later Published: July 8, 2013 Story Photos: A detail of the smoldering section of a giant sequoia located along the Congress Trail in Sequoia National Park's Giant Forest. HANDOUT PHOTO/NPS By Mark Grossi — The Fresno Bee A fire has smoldered at the top of a centuries-old giant sequoia for more than a year in Sequoia National Park — smoky testimony about California’s latest drought. The stubborn little fire is big news among longtime Sequoia park staffers who say they have never seen a blaze survive a Sierra Nevada winter at nearly 7,000 feet in elevation. “I had heard stories about such a thing, but I’ve never heard of a verified example like this one,” said Sequoia fire ecologist Tony Caprio, who tracks fires among the big trees. “When you think about how dry it was for the last two winters, it’s not so hard to believe.” A park visitor last week reported smoke from the blaze in a tree along the Congress Trail in majestic Giant Forest — where trees live 2,000 years and longer. A small part of the trail has been temporarily closed, as authorities assess the safety. Giant Forest is a big attraction for tourists who want to see the world’s largest tree, the General Sherman Tree, which is not near the smoldering fire. But thousands of people walk the Congress Trail and probably passed the burning tree. The fire started in June 2012 during a prescribed burn to eliminate brush and some smaller trees, which makes the forest less prone to huge wildfires. An ember from the intentional burn may have landed high on the giant sequoia and started the fire. Under usual conditions, a prescribed fire would either run out of brush or die off as rain and snow fall in autumn and winter. But this fire apparently moved into the spongy, fire-resistant bark of the giant sequoia, which had dried out after the arid 2011-12 winter. “It burned slowly for the most part,” said Caprio. “Nobody noticed it.” A few storms rolled through Sequoia in November and December, but the fire appears to have been sheltered just enough to continue. Then the park experienced one of the driest January-through-April periods on record, said Sequoia spokeswoman Linda Mutch. Giant Forest usually gets more than 30 inches of precipitation in those four months. This year, it got less than 8 inches. The fire kept burning. “Fires have probably overwintered here before over the centuries,” Mutch said. “Nobody here can remember it happening over at least the last 45 years.” And nobody is putting it out. It’s dangerous to even reach a fire more than 100 feet above the ground, as this one is. Only 5% of the Congress Trail has been closed to protect the public from falling debris as the tree smolders. Park staff will monitor the fire. Spot fires from falling embers will be put out, as safety allows, according to Sequoia officials. “I expect it to continue smoldering for a while,” said Caprio. “If we have a dry fall, it might keep going.” fresnobee.com