[pct-l] Re: fire control philosophy

[Mark Dixon <mkdixon1@excite.com>]

Fire is not a devastating force regardless of what the television might lead
you to beleive. True, houses burn and people are inconvenienced but in the
end the forest is reborn with no concern for human feelings. Big devastating
fires are part of the natural order. When you walk through miles of big
lodgepole pines that are all the same age, it means the whole forest burned
a few hundred years before. Nobody was there to suppress the fires out west
when Lewis and Clark walked through, no fire breaks, no roads and no
controlled burns (well, there were some uncontrolled burns). One thing that
the TV never tells you is that there's very little fire fighters can really
do to stop big fires like we're having this year. Sure, they can steer some
of the flames away from some buildings but that's about it. Roads are no
barrier to 250 foot flames that are throwing out burning embers up to 1/4
mile downwind. It hasn't rained for the last two months in the northern
Rockies, there was little snow last winter and there have been lots of dry
lightning storms with high winds. There is nobody to blame for anything
here.

Mark Dixon





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