FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A lightning-sparked wildfire in California’s Sierra National Forest burned Tuesday through a grove of giant sequoias and set some of the ancient towering trees on fire.

Wildland firefighters with tree-climbing experience were being sent in to put out the fire burning in the canopies of the beloved trees, said Jay Tracy, a spokesperson for the Garnet Fire ablaze in Fresno County .

To protect the majestic trees, some estimated to be 3,000 years old, fire crews laid sprinkler lines to increase ground moisture, wrapped the trunks with fire-resistant foil blankets, raked flammable material away from trees and patrolled the area looking for hotspots, he said.

Sequoias grow naturally only in a 260-mile belt of forest on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains

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