Wildfires Latest Threat To Sequoia Trees

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Officials say part of Yosemite National Park has been closed and hundreds of people evacuated nearby as a wildfire rages near a grove of California’s famed giant sequoia trees. On Friday, the growing fire forced park officials to close Mariposa Grove. It is the largest sequoia grove in Yosemite and features more than 500 mature giant sequoias. A campground and the community of Wawona were ordered evacuated. Firefighters are trying to contain the blaze from the ground and the air. Although sequoias are threatened by the flames, there have been no reports of severe damage to the grove’s giant named sequoias.