Wildfire threatens giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park

• "Firefighters are suppressing the fire from the ground and air. The Mariposa Grove is closed until further notice. All other areas of Yosemite National Park are open."

The big picture: Wildfires spread across much of the Western United States last summer, forcing thousands of people to flee and the fires claimed a number of homes.

• California wildfires killed between 3% and 5% of all giant sequoias in 2021, the National Park Service estimated.
• In total, wildfires last season in California burned more than 2.5 million acres in over 8,800 incidents and killed three people, according to Cal Fire's 2021 data.
• In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation protecting Mariposa Grove as a site for “public use, resort and recreation," per the park service.

Between the lines: Human-caused global warming is a major factor behind the severity, longevity and frequency of the heat waves in the American West and other parts of the world, Axios' Andrew Freedman reports.