The Calafornia fires are being blamed, of course, on GW: Global Warming and the president, who, as we know, is to blame for all the global warming in the world. The underbrush is dry from GW, they say, so it burns hotter and makes it difficult to put out the fires.

But wait…why is the underbrush even there? Before man started managing forests, fires were nature’s way of cleaning out the underbrush. Slow burning fires would burn off small trees, shrubs, fallen branches, dead leaves and debris. Old hardy trees usually survived fires intact. It’s an important part of the natural cycle. Fire is so much a part of the natural process that some species of pines, such as the Monterey Pine and Pond Pine, produce tightly sealed cones that only release their seeds when there’s a fire.

But now, every time there’s any kind of a fire, we (i.e. the government) runs in to put it out, no doubt singing “Here I come To Save The Daaaaaaaaay” en route. The fire is quelled and everyone feels wonderful about themselves, but the brush never gets burned off. “Environmentalists” fight attempts to remove the brush, sometimes making it illegal for homeowners to even clear their own property.  So the brush accumulates. And accumulates. And accumulates. When it finally does catch fire, there’s so much dry, easily burned fuel that it gets out of control very very fast. Old, magnificent trees that survive normal fires are destroyed by the intensity of the flames, all because of man’s “help.”

And then, of course, it’s blamed on Global Warming. Or the other GW. Or both.