By Justin Rowlatt
The climate editor.
The image is from the same source.
California's giant sequoias are a symbol of permanence, with some living for thousands of years. These trees are among the longest-lived organisms on Earth and are in danger of being destroyed by the raging wildfires.
There is something special about giant sequoias. Their weird, broccoli-like branches wouldn't be out of place with a long-necked dinosaur.
30 or 40 people would have to link hands to hug the largest one. The tallest trees are 90m high. That's like a tower block.
"They make you feel like you're in a movie", sighs the woman as she looks up at the biggest tree in the world.
You can sense that the tree was born before Jesus.
As she says this, she lowers her voice. The last redoubt of these magnificent trees is the Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
The image is from the same source.
The image caption is.
The General Sherman tree's base was wrapped in protective insulation during the fires.
The Sequoias live long because they are adapted to their environment.
The sequoias in California have developed bark which can be up to a meter thick and which stops the most intense fires from damaging the trees.
California's fires are changing. She leads me deeper into the forest to see what she means.
You can't hear the sound of the wind in the leaves, the cry of a raven, or the footsteps crunching in the leaf litter. It's heaven. The scene changes dramatically when we walk over a ridge.
She says that she wanted to show you a giant sequoia grove. The landscape now is grey or black. Many of the trees have been cut down.
No one had seen a sequoia that looked like this before 2015. She is crying. "You never saw a tree become a candle and burn up in this way before." She points to the blackened remains of a tree.
The image is from the same source.
The image caption is.
A firefighter battles a fire in the sequoia forest.
The tree should have lived another 500 to 800 years, but it's gone.
She wipes her tears with her jacket. It won't sequester any more carbon. It won't be a spotted owl house. It's dead.
California's trees are not the only ones that have been suffering. We visit the Gold Rush-era town of Greenville several hours north. It used to be famous for its clapboard shops and white church.
The massive Dixie Fire this summer burned a million acres and cost 600 million dollars to fight.
Nichoel told me how she got the text. She had her "forever home" with the place that had been erased.
The image is from Justin Sullivan.
The image caption is.
The town was devastated by the fire.
It took away the color from my life. Nichoel gestured towards the ashes of her house, which was a shade of grey. We lost the future we planned for. She is crying. She tells me that they lost their story.
Nichoel still has hope. She wants the town to be rebuilt using the latest fire protection knowhow. She and her husband grew 80% of their food on their land, and she hopes others will do the same.
"Greenville could be a lighthouse community of sustainable and climate adaptation." She says that big fires are the new normal.
In the forest, he hasn't given up hope either. She expects to see baby sequoias next year. They like the smell of burnt soil. She says the forests need to be better managed with dead wood and brush that can cause fires.
The image is from the same source.
There are a few trees that will survive, even here amongst the destruction. At the edge of the grove, there is a charred bark of a giant sequoia.
Not far in, the charcoal gives way to reddish bark. She says it's just surface damage. Lots of the leaves have survived. The tree will live!
The resilience of the sequoias is telling us that we need to act on climate change now and that every little bit counts. She looked at me in the eye.
She says that every carbon reduction will help the forests persist. As we walk through the trees, she smiles back at me.
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