The enviros won’t let the proper forestry be done to mitigate these fires by clearing the underbrush and,yes, harvesting timber. The enviros are responsible for the climate on the ground that is fueling these huge fires.
Bad forest policy is leaving too many old growth trees standing that are susceptible to fire and leaving lots of brush and other materials that can quickly combust. Of course that explanation won’t fit well the climate change excuse. Every forestry expert knows California has some of the worst forest managagement in the country.
Exactly, in Packwood WA the news was reporting during the early spring, that there COULD BE A BIG FIRE, because of all the underbrush. Instead of putting young adults and teens to work clearing the brush, they waited until the brush caught fire.
I remember in my youth, my Uncles who worked in the timber and construction industry, would spend as much time building or logging, as they did picking brush for profit, or working for the USFS. The logging companies would cut roads into the wilderness for access which helped with fires, but they also cut swaths of firebreaks.
When it was a down time in construction it was common for men to pick brush and sell it to companies that supplied it to florists. It paid well, and kept the forests healthy. They even were allowed to go up 15 feet on cedar trees and sell the boughs they cut, no charge by the state, but the guys made money keeping the forests safe. I think it was called “fringing”.
In WA it is obvious that the trees are too close together, often within 6-8 feet of each other with the ground covered by Salal and Huck between. Acres and acres will burn, just because people are no longer allowed to get firewood for the cost of their labor, to heat homes.
These forest fires are the direct result of government policy, and nature doing what it does. The solution is not retreat to the cities and leave the forests to burn, but to manage Gods green Earth.