Where I've lived (several places in the west), this is well understood and controlled burns/fuel reduction incentives have been long standing policies. I can't

Where I've lived (several places in the west), this is well understood and controlled burns/fuel reduction incentives have been long standing policies. I can't say that's the case everywhere, but it definitely is everywhere I've lived. My family used to go and collect wood from such an area: the policy was to pull all the downed trees and scrub into piles. The forest service allowed people to take wood for free from these piles. What was left was burned, after people took the good logs and it dried out. I still visit this place regularly, and the policy is still the same. It's become harder to do controlled burns, because in drought conditions, the season where it is safe to do so has become short to non-existent. I think this argument is popular because it is a way to blame "liberal" environmental policy for the fires.