Incredible article put out by the New York Times putting fire science in a publicly-accessible format and stunning pictures and moving graphics. A must read!
From the Source:
"By suppressing fires ... we’re saving the landscape for the worst conditions,’ a fire researcher says. ‘We need to choose good fire over bad fire, and if we understand spread we can make better choices."
"Fire has always been a part of the natural ecology — many plant species evolved in direct response to it and couldn’t survive without it; when the sap of some pine cones melts, for example, seeds are released. But the reflexive practice of putting out all fires, which has dominated national policy for so many decades, has turned much of the American West into a tinderbox."
Above: "Scientists at the Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula observe the behavior of fire in a wind tunnel."