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KNP Wildfire Complex Continues To Grow, But Giant Forest Appears Safe

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By Kurt Repanshek - September 26th, 2021

Just 8 percent of the nearly 45,000-acre KNP wildfire complex was contained as of Sunday morning/NPS

Nearly 2,000 firefighters were struggling Sunday to gain the upper hand over the KNP wildfire complex in Sequoia National Park in California. While it appears the Giant Forest has evaded the flames thanks to long-term fire management strategies in the park, crews were working to protect the Muir Grove from the fire.

Southern Area Blue Team Operations Chief Jon Wallace announced Sunday morning that firefighters had made enough progress along the lines near Ash Mountain in Sequoia National Park to declare some containment of the blaze.

"We like to say that when a piece of fire is contained that there is very, very low probability that it will ever spread again. And so, it's really that cold edge," he said. "On this morning's map, you're going to start to see containment. I think now we're up to 8 percent containment. I suspect in the coming days that's going to be increasing rather quickly, as we have been focusing on getting a lot of line in in a lot of places. And now we're in the process of cleaning up and holding that line."

The 8 percent containment includes an area adjacent to Paradise Ridge, the Giant Sequoia Forest, and Lodgepole, the daily fire briefing reported. It added that preparations were "being made to apply fire retardant gel to the sequoia trees in the Muir Grove, using helicopters if the weather permits."

Crews Sunday also were continuing to "monitor high-value infrastructure within the national park (including) the park headquarters, museum, and employee housing."

Lightning sparked the fire on September 9. Though it started as two separate fires, two days later they merged into the complex that as of Sunday morning covered roughly 44,828 acres.

Weather conditions were not helping the 1,780 firefighters. The daily briefing noted that "high pressure continues to dominate the region today. Winds remain light and terrain driven. Areas where smoke clears will see more active fire behavior in the afternoon. Overnight humidity recovery last night was near zero. Poor humidity recovery and warmer temperatures will lead to drier conditions through the afternoon."

Feeding the flames were stands of live timber, intermixed with stands of 10-year-old dead trees, and brush.

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