[jetson]

California was once dry and desert like. There were horrendous forest fires back when local Indians lived there. The Indians just accepted large fires ( caused by whatever ) but learned to clear and burn slash around their villages or not to live in vulnerable spots.

Nature will continue to do it's thing and as man overpopulates, lessons will be learned.

[5th MEB]

Hell, the Indians lit a lot of those fires.
They did it to keep the forests open for travel, game hunting, and harvesting native foods.
They just had enough sense to do it before the brush got out of hand and would contribute to the disasters you see today.