Fighting wildfires in western WA requires different approaches

Although the 2020 fires were a new and devastating experience for modern society, such fires are very much business as usual when viewed over longer history.
For millennia, massive and severe fires have periodically burned millions of acres in the western Cascades. Unlike the east side of the state, where fire suppression and fuel buildup have contributed to uncharacteristically large and severe fires in dry forests, such fires are entirely characteristic for the west side.