Actually the no-burn policy started in the 1930s. Remember Smokey Bear? Things are a bit different now, and the USFS tends to let fires burn. Witness the Zaca Fire of last summer. Why? They have the excuse to ignore air quality mandates. They KNOW that fire is part of the chaparral ecosystem. They also no it’s politically impossible to control burn in enough volume to make a difference. So, they get an opportunity (like some jerk playing with 4th of July fireworks in the national forest) and they take advantage. We need to have controlled burns over the whole forest on a scheduled basis, so the big one doesn’t get away and kill people and destroy homes. The area the Gap Fire is burning hasn’t burned for 50+ years. Not good. Hope to God, no one gets killed. Bad enough to lose houses. We’ve been there before here in SB. Ditto LA.
There's big money for the Forest Service in "Managing" wildland fires. Why change what is a good thing for them? They like it just the way it is. The more a fire burns, the fatter their budget gets. Not to mention the millions in grants to "study" wildland fires.
Actually you are missing a big point. Before the greenies put a stop to logging fires were not as severe. Logging does the same job as fires and combined with controlled burns of brush, is much better for the economy and the so called eco-system. The big plus is timber is a renewable resource but of course the greenies act as if trees never grow back or that if a tree isn’t at least 200 years old it is worthless, when in fact young trees produce more oxygen than old ones and provide more food for wildlife, all facts that greenies, and a lot of conservatives, ignore.
I couldn't believe how obsessed they got Friday about giving away free masks and bragging about the giving away by the local company. One would think that was more important than the evacuated people with their pets and children in the high school or the fact that 1,000s of homes were in jeopardy and the lives of the firefighters from all they time they took to talk about it on the news and even in the kiosks that were meant to give us evacuees information about the fire and our evac area. Give me a break. People were mad.