FISH CAMP, Calif. — The first that Michael Gilbert, a 67-year-old rock climber and bellman, heard of the fire in Yosemite National Park was from a mother and daughter who drove up breathless on Friday.
They had been near the park’s famed Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias. They saw a fire “this big,” the mother said, stretching her arms wide, indicating a few feet. They ran for a few seconds and looked back. Two trees were on fire. Twenty seconds later, she said, more trees than she could count.
As she told the story, fire planes were already crossing overhead, Gilbert recalled Saturday from his post at Tenaya Lodge.
By Saturday morning, the Washburn fire had ballooned to about 1,190 acres and was threatening some 500 giant sequoias, along with the community of Wawona.
The blaze was the latest to menace the ancient giants, which are found in the wild only on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Although they are adapted to thrive in fire, the sequoias are increasingly no match for high-severity wildfires driven by climate change, drought and decades of aggressive fire suppression that has resulted in a buildup of dense vegetation in some forested areas.
“Because of that combination, we are having these fires that are large and intense and last longer than what anybody’s seen in any part of their experience,” said Nancy Phillipe, a Yosemite fire information spokesperson.
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