The following photos from the Rodeo/Chediski Fire are entirely analogous to the situation in the San Bernardino Mountains
Do you want this,
Or this
This is Apache land. The two photos were taken the same day and both burned. Note the charring on the lower branches of some of the trees in the second photo foreground.
The answer is forestry, multiple use, and the responsibility that goes with private control. The Forest Service serves too many masters, and gets a bigger budget as long as they fail.
My mother has a summer home in Pinetop AZ. She is really concerned about this very problem. The forest is so dense in many areas that you cannot walk through it. The forest land south of the Pinetop/Showlow/Lakeside area is infested with pine beetles, and there is thousands of dead trees. Basically, this area is a tinderbox waiting for an ignition source.