Always have been. It's a part of our state's ecology. Our forests require them in order to stay healthy, and native peoples were mediating the process for thous

Always have been. It's a part of our state's ecology. Our forests require them in order to stay healthy, and native peoples were mediating the process for thousands of years before Western settlers decided fire was dangerous and had to be stopped. Now our forests and the fuel structures therein are way out of whack and we're finding our way back toward balance.