Man has a long history of irrational, emotional and superstitious relationship to fire.
What is the solution? That is the question.
Eliminate “wild” forests and we eliminate “wild forest fires”.
Sell all forests to the private sector with the stipulation that the private owners have to allow the same level of recreation, hunting and fishing as previously existed.
The private owners (the Koch Bros of the ecomomy) will turn the forests into tree farms. They will clear the underbrush. They will prevent fires that destroy their assets.
Case solved.
Side benefit: Selling off government assets like forests, and the USPS, which is a major real estate owner, will give the government a one time infusion of money to bring down the national debt. With a smaller debt service in the budget the economy can grow.
side problem. Forests are dry. Deserts are even drier. Worldwide there is a shortage of potable water.
Solution: Miles off the Pacific coast, install water cannons powered by waves and solar power. Thes water cannons would shoot salt water spray high in the atmosphere. Much of that spray would evaporate and increase the humidity, and the rainfall down wind from the spray. Rainfall in California and the west would increase. The forests (and the beaches) would be wetter. Because it is powered by the waves and renewable energy it is an eco-friendly solution.
Only those selfish Californians who want sunny beaches could oppose it.
You do know that air can hold only so much H2O as a function of its temperature. The air above the ocean cannot have water added to it by spray unless it has not already absorbed all the moisture that it can hold. Most likely the air is already saturated over a body of water like the ocean.
Eliminate “wild” forests and we eliminate “wild forest fires”.