[plank_time]

We should just let all these forest fires burn themselves out at this point, regardless of how big it gets. The idea that people would sacrifice their lives to save structures in the face of the full force of nature is stupid.

Evacuate everyone in the area, divert firefighting resources to home the evacuees, and let it burn out. The silver lining is that the area won’t be hospitable for a large forest fire for a while.

[MarcScott]

You've been downvoted, but if we had always just let forest fires burn, we'd be in a lot less trouble. Instead we put out fires to protect homes and infrastructure, resulting in a build up of several feet of combustible duff. When this does eventually burn, it burns hot, causing older trees that would have survived otherwise to go up in flames. Forests have pretty much evolved to handle forest fires.

BTW, I'm not dismissing climate change as a major factor here for the prevalence and seriousness of seasonal fires. It's just that the idea of forest management as a remedy to these issues is a nonsense. Forests have managed themselves for millions of years, if we left them to it, they'd probably do alright now.