So, the Forest service would rather have millions of acres destroyed rather than a few trees!
So, the Forest service would rather have millions of acres destroyed rather than a few trees!
Not quite. A Forest Service bureaucrat/manager would rather see the forest burn than take an action which could reflect poorly on his judgment or management capability or affect his upward mobility or future retirement benefits. That could include very real- and legitimate concerns for liability for some really expensive equipment, and, hopefully, concern for the safety of the operators. It can also indicate a very real savvy of the liklihood of the possibility of being called to testify to hostile congressional inquisitors if the slightest harm came to some present or past nesting ground of some endangered flora or fauna, knowing that his political supervisors won't be standing up there with him.
So it could be a less malign matter of a guy who put his own neck above those considerations that might have slowed or stopped the fire's spread...hardly laudatory, but at least more understandable. Or it could be that he wanted to play Expert Boss and take full credit for any success that came out of the ashes- in which case he's getting just what he deserves: ashes.
And I hope he likes their taste.
-archy-/-