PHOTOS: Railroad Fire chars Giant Sequoias in Nelder Grove near Yosemite

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Thursday, September 7, 2017
PHOTOS: Railroad Fire chars Giant Sequoias near Yosemite
The Railroad Fire burned through a grove of Giant Sequoia trees on Wednesday. While it's impossible to know exactly how old these trees are without counting their rings, mature sequoias can be anywhere from 800 to 3,000 years old. Fortunately, they are also extremely durable and are known to survive wildfires.

OAKHURST, Calif. -- Officials say winds from a thunderstorm pushed the Railroad Fire burning outside Yosemite National Park deeper into a grove of 2,700-year-old Giant Sequoias.

Fire information officer Anne Grandy says crews don't know yet whether the 15-square-mile fire has damaged any trees in Nelder Grove outside the park. She says giant sequoias are resilient and can withstand low intensity fires.

There are about 100 giant sequoias in the grove, including the roughly 24-story-high Bull Buck sequoia, one of the world's largest.

The fire has burned nearly 11,000 acres so far.

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Railroad Fire burns through the Nelder Grove.
Nathaly Granda

ABC7 News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.