A lot of people who had evacuated the Lake Arrowhead/Big Bear areas came down to the LBC to stay. I recall sitting in a Starbucks and listening to a woman talking on her cell phone - an evacuee sitting there with her two dogs - and she was b!tching about how all the fires were George Bush's fault because he wouldn't allow the forest service to clear the trees that had died from the Bark Beetle infestation. Ahem - "Hi, stupid lady? THE SIERRA CLUB IS YOUR PROBLEM, not the President. Why don't you blame them? Idiot." And I walked away.
As far as I know, the Sierra Club has not backed down and there is still plenty of dead fuel all over the Southwest. New Mexico is primed for a bad fire season, too. Lots of dead trees out there from Bark Beetle that have not been cleared.
Fire is long overdue for most National Forests in
Kaliph. I say let them burn. Get the people out.
Its not worth losing firefighters over.