Prescribed burn at Big Trees State Park may kill 2 iconic giant sequoias named "The Orphans"
CALAVERAS COUNTY — A pair of iconic Calaveras County giant sequoia trees in Big Trees State Park are badly burned after they became engulfed in flames in what California State Parks says was a prescribed burn.
The damage to the trees is drawing concern from local elected officials and tree advocates over how the burn was handled. The trees are now burned and blackened.
Known as "The Orphans," named by Western settlers in the 1800s, these giant sequoias have stood on the land for an estimated 500 to 1,000 years, surviving the test of time — until now.
A California State Park prescribed burn has left them so badly damaged that they may die.
Calaveras County resident and sequoia tree advocate Tom Van Lokeren organized a prayer circle for the trees. His healing exercise also comes with anger over how this damage could have been done.
"Well, I see it as a cruel irony that they are named 'The Orphans,' and that their guardians apparently abandoned them in a prescribed fire," Van Lokeren said.
The California State Parks Department issued a statement reading, in part:
"Prior to the prescribed burn, crews completed preparations around all monarch giant sequoias within the burn unit to reduce the likelihood of negative impacts from fire."
Van Lokeran is critical of how the prescribed burn was conducted.
"Somebody should have been on that fire when they started to go up in flames," he said.
Calaveras County Supervisor Martin Huberty is proposing a policy change to how the state prepares for prescribed burns. The state is planning a 1,300-acre burn for the fall where a thousand more giant sequoias stand.
"First of all, these trees are ancient and they're magnificent," Huberty said. "Hopefully, it's a wake-up call for people to realize how incredibly special and important these trees are and we do our utmost to make sure that the ones that we have our saved."
CBS13 did reach out to the state parks department late Tuesday to find out exactly what precautions were taken to protect this pair of sequoias. The department did not immediately respond.