they re tough. almost nothing can kill them. but climate change is changing that. shrinking the footprint. a giant have a chi ya that was first weakened by drought was then subject to impacts by the bark beetle which then further weakened the tree and potentially made it more susceptible to mortality from fire. the tree is said to be the fifth largest tree in the entire world. it s lived more than 3,000 years. yet, we re seeing that wildfire is threatening these joint sequoias more than ever before. the castle fire was a wakeup call. an estimated 7500 to 10,600 trees were destroyed in that one fire alone. started by lightning in 2020, it burned more than 174,000 acres scorching several out