Is Fire Bad?
By Mitchell Biley

Maintaining a healthy forest is very important. People think of fires as a bad thing, but without fire, many forest communities would die. The history of fires is very intriguing as well.

The history of fire has scared people for many years. Fire used to be caused naturally and it burned naturally. Ever since the big forest fire in 1910, people have seen fire as an enemy. Lots of people were killed and many others injured. There was a law of 100% fire suppression, which meant all fires were put out right away, and no fires were lit. Without fire many forests became very over crowded, and there was lots of competition for water and sunlight. People first started noticing this problem when the giant sequoia forest started getting very crowded. The giant trees were fine but no new trees came. There smaller trees couldn't get sunlight or water. Fire crews lit a prescribed burn in the sequoia forest, and in a few years new sequoias started coming.

After that, more and more organizations started setting prescribed burns. The burns made many forests healthy and let new generations grow. People were still very cautious about fire, and to promote fire safety, Smokey the Bear was invented. At first Smokey was just a drawing, and then a real bear was found in the middle of a fire. He was from then on, Smokey Bear. Smokey was actually better known than the president of the United States.

Keeping your house safe from fire is very important. One thing you can do is make sure that there aren't any fire ladders. Fire ladders are when the fire catches the grass, then the grass catches the shrubs, then to small trees, and so on. Up in Idyllwild, keeping all plants ten feet away from your house can help.

A healthy and safe forest is very important. The history of fire is frightening, but also interesting. Fire safety is important for anybody who lives in a forest.