Thousands of giant sequoia trees killed in California wildfires

A fire burns along a ridge in Sequoia National Forest (Noah Berger/AP)

Lightning-sparked wildfires killed thousands of giant sequoias this year, adding to a two-year toll that accounts for up to nearly a fifth of Earth’s largest trees, officials said.

Fires in Sequoia National Park and the surrounding national forest that also bears the trees’ name tore through more than a third of groves in California and torched an estimated 2,261-3,637 sequoias, which are the largest trees by volume.