The Subtropical Environment

     The Sequoia's do not have much in common with the South's subtropical weather. They have hot dry summers and freezing winters, unlike the south with its hot humid summers and mild winters. The South is well known for its natural disasters. Hurricanes have swept through much of the Southern Coastlines. Many of us remember Hurricane Katrina and what it did to New Orleans. Sequoia has common natural disasters of its own, however they are the opposite of water, hot flaming fire.

     There are three types of fires that occur most commonly in these upper mountain areas: natural causes, human causes, and controlled fires. Natural causes are ones that start by lightening striking or by temperatures getting so hot that it causes smoldering in dry areas which leads to a fire. Controlled fires are ones that firefighters start and stop in certain areas to prevent mass amounts of land catching fire and not being able to stop them. They also use controlled fired to help habitats create rebirth from the high nutrients in ash. The most dangerous is human fires. People will throw cigarettes, matches, etc onto the group which will then cause brush to catch quickly. Sometimes if the fires are planned they will start them in multiple areas which will then create a ring of fire. When this happens it is highly hazardous and could put many people in danger because it might leave people unprepared in the local areas. Firefighters can often predict natural caused fires before they happen due to the weather conditions, but human started fires can come at the most random of times.  The largest fire to burn in the park was in 2005 which spread over 14,087 acres of the park. 
Picture and Information from: www.nps.gov/seki/naturescience/fire.htm