Brilliant synopsis. But #6? What is the benefit and meaning of “fuel load reduction”?
“What is the benefit and meaning of “fuel load reduction”?”
Get rid of the fuel and there’s nothing to burn. The previously-irrigated cane and pineapple fields were wet and cultivated, so hard to burn. When they disappeared, dry, flammable weeds moved in, i.e., lots of fuel for the fires (the “fuel load”). It was like the prairie fires that routinely swept across the Great Plains up into the Canadian prairies. The native grasses, when they dried out mid- to late-summer, burned like crazy and swept across the prairies.