The General Sherman, a 2,000-year-old behemoth thought to be the world’s largest tree by volume, grows in the northern end of the forest.

Crews worked frantically Friday to shield the park’s most iconic trees, including the General Sherman, by wrapping their trunks with fireproof foil blankets and clearing flammable debris from their bases.

But authorities could not predict where the fire — which is still zero percent contained — would head next.