This is a good summary of wildfires that occur today. Note the point that I bolded.
"Globally, wildfire size, severity, and frequency have been increasing, as have related fatalities and taxpayer-funded firefighting costs (1). In most accessible forests, wildfire response prioritizes suppression because fires are easier and cheaper to contain when small (2). In the United States, for example, 98% of wildfires are suppressed before reaching 120 ha in size (3). But
the 2% of wildfires that escape containment often burn under extreme weather conditions in fuel-loaded forests and account for 97% of fire-fighting costs and total area burned (3). Changing climate and decades of fuel accumulation make efforts to suppress every fire dangerous, expensive, and ill advised (4). These trends are attracting congressional scrutiny for a new approach to wildfire management (5). The recent release of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (NCWFMS) (6) and the U.S. Forest Service's (USFS's) current effort to revise national forest (NF) plans provide openings to incentivize change. Although we largely focus on the USFS, which incurs 70% of national firefighting costs (7), similar wildfire policies and needed management reforms are relevant throughout the United States and fire-prone areas worldwide."
Reform forest fire management | Science
There are fire independent ecosystems and fire dependent ecosystems. Fire (wildfire or prescribed) can be beneficial or harmful to the ecosystem depending on the fires intensity, duration and frequency.
The deserts of the SW are not a fire dependent ecosystem. The ecosystem has been changed with the introduction of exotics like cheat grass and red brome. The exotics are fire dependent and invade burned areas out competing in some cases the native vegetation. This spread makes the desert ecosystem more prone to large fires.
Lodgepole pine forests are fire dependent. The forest needs a hot enough fire to open up the serotinous cones so the seeds can spread. Fires are generally a stand replacement event.
Ponderosa Pine forest are fire dependent and historically fires were low intensity. Fire prepared the forest floor by reducing the duff layer and thinning the forest. The pine stand was mostly open and park like.
Bottom line, when we have years of below normal snow pack, lack of rain during the summer what dead and live fuels that exist on the landscape will be more prone to burn when ignited. Exotic species and humans building homes into fire prone areas adds to the problem.
Politics
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