“There are a lot of factors to consider on the human side of the equation. It’s not just that fuels in some forests have been increased because of fire suppression and land management. But it’s also the case that fire supression strategies vary over time. And it’s also the case that the population changes over time.

Each of these things is important, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the timing of these fires, the vast majority of them occured in early snow melt years and in places where land management and fire suppression have not greatly changed the forest structure and the risk of a large fire.

So in terms of thinking about the vegetation changes from the 20th century and the late 19th century, the areas that were most affected by the increase in large fires were least affected by those factors.

In terms of thinking about strategies for fire suppression, that’s more difficult. However, if you look at the records, it’s clear that in most of these large fires seasons, they were trying very hard to extinguish those fires. And if you look at the spending and the individual reports for those fires, it’s clear that they were not letting most of these fires just burn. So there’s no indication that the timing of these seasons and the location is governed by these human factors.”

– Anthony Westlerling to Earth & Sky.