The battle to save world's largest tree

The largest tree in the world - a 275-foot General Sherman - was among a grove of ancient sequoias wrapped in fire-proof blanks Thursday to spare them from blazes tearing through the Western U.S. 

Trees in the Sequoia National Park´s Giant Forest - as well as the Giant Forest Museum and other buildings - were covered in aluminum wrapping that can handle intensive heat for short periods, a fire official said.

They included The General Sherman Tree, the largest in the world by volume, at 52,508 cubic feet, according to the National Park Service. It towers 275ft high and has a circumference of 103ft at ground level. 

Firefighters were also clearing brush and pre-positioning engines among the 2,000 ancient trees, incident commanders said.

'They are taking extraordinary measures to protect these trees,' said park resource manager Christy Brigham, according to The Mercury News.

'We just really want to do everything we can to protect these 2,000- and 3,000-year-old trees.'

It comes after a wildfire killed thousands of sequoias, some as tall as high-rises and thousands of years old, in the region last year.