You are right, of course; however burning has historically been a tool of successful land management. Judging from your name, I'll bet you had a great time smelling the leaves and grass as they burned, and realizing as well that weed seeds were being destroyed as well.
The modern American farmer is now employing slash and burn techniques! ;-)
They burn off the the grasslands in western NoDak every spring.
This year, while in Central Kansas over the fourth of July weekend, I saw some farmers burning off their wheat stubble. First time I ever saw anything like that. You could watch clouds form over the fields, in a distance, from the heat