Citation
Fire: A Brief History
TL;DR
US fire suppression policy (1900s-2000s) prevented natural fire cycles
Historical analysis of fire suppression policy in US forests and its catastrophic consequences. Pyne documents how preventing small fires for 80+ years led to fuel accumulation and catastrophic wildfires including Yellowstone (1988) and California megafires (2017-2020).
Provides the empirical foundation for the Fire Suppression Trap: you cannot eliminate disturbance, you can only choose between regular small disturbances or rare catastrophic ones.
Key Findings from Pyne (2001)
- US fire suppression policy (1900s-2000s) prevented natural fire cycles
- 80+ years of suppression created unnaturally dense forests with extreme fuel loads
- Yellowstone fires (1988) burned 793,000 acres after decades of suppression
- Prescribed burns restore natural cycles and prevent catastrophic fire