SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – In an effort to protect the massive sequoias in Yosemite National Park from the Washburn Fire, crews are wrapping the trees in a tinfoil-like material.
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The foil, which was developed by Firezat, are 99% pure grade aluminum that is used to protect homes, structures and trees from wildfires.
Dan Hirning, Founder and Director of Firezat, told KCBS Radio that the shield's slick surface protects structures from ember attacks, which according to a study by the Forest Service, is a major cause of a fire spreading.
"Eighty percent of the structures are actually burned with firebrand that lands on the structure and ignites it," he said. "So, we stop that kind of attack."
The Washburn Fire erupted Thursday in the lower part of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias in Yosemite. Saturday night to Sunday morning, the blaze had doubled in size to 1,591 acres at 0% containment, threatening more than 500 mature sequoias.
According to a Yosemite fire information spokesperson, the blaze is proving difficult to contain, with firefighters throwing "every tactic imaginable" at it.
Hirning said the fire shields have the ability to reflect 96% of the radiant heat and will also reflect 92% of the convected heat in the air or ground. The forest service, CAL FIRE and the Bureau of Land Management have been using the shields to wrap high-value structures.
"They'll wrap high-value structures anything that is too dangerous to leave a crew behind or there aren't enough resources and crews to leave them there, so you can wrap and leave," he explained.
The company sells 5-foot-wide by 200-foot rolls and Hirning said, depending on the size of your structure, it takes two to three rolls to safely wrap it.
For cabin and homeowners, it can take six to eight hours to initially wrap your house, but once it's customized to the structure it will take half the time to put it up after that. "Most of the people that are in these conditions, it's almost an annual thing now and so most of them have it there. It's ready in case they need it and they just wrap up and leave it when they are ordered to evacuate," Hirning said.
Residents and visitors of the local community of Wawona were ordered to leave their homes and campsites Friday night.
Fire shields are reusable for years. They don't support mold or mildew and are unaffected by UV light, according to Firezat. Similar techniques were used to protect trees at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks during wildfires last year.
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