According to an expert in the White House, the best way to prevent forest fires is to rake all the combustible materials from forest floors. That’s easier said than done. It couldn’t be done before the Maine forest fire of 1947 and it can’t be done now.

If one happens to be walking or hiking through the woods, one probably would notice the forest floor is covered with vegetation as well as dead, dry plant material — including trees. To remove all of this would be an unsustainable cost in any budget. Having done volunteer trail maintenance in the White Mountain National Forest for several years, I can see why. The picture becomes clearer when I hike an occasional bushwhack.

The devastating fires in the Los Angeles area were not solely the result of unkempt plant life. Drought and hurricane-force winds made any ignition source unstoppable. Given the conditions, the devastation could have happened anywhere — including West Palm Beach, Florida. Unfortunately, it occurred on a terrain that made it very difficult for experienced, professional firefighters to contain multiple fires. The density of human habitation did not help.

The 1947 fires in Maine burned over 200,000 acres, destroyed over 1,200 homes and killed 16 people. Drought conditions (like California) existed from July well into October when the fires started. The possibility of ignition from utility infrastructure (such as the Camp Fire in Northern California) was not considerable, though the public was warned to keep their chimneys clean.

Northern York County, where I live, was hardest hit. I have a bulldozed firebreak lined with 75-year-old red oaks on one side of my lot. It’s hard to imagine people running from flames as high as the trees until you see the old photographs.

So how do you stop destructive wildfires? I guess we’ll have to get rid of the wilderness.

The suggestion that all the duff and organic material in the natural world should be removed will help ensure that nothing will spring up in its place. This would be of particular concern in Maine, where so much of the economy depends on the regeneration of its woodlands and maintaining an environment that attracts those from away.

We could be like the idiot who set fire to his vehicle last July and rolled it off the road into the woods for pure spite, causing the Park Fire, or we can show some respect for what is, for all of us, the cycle of life. If it wasn’t for a fire crew that narrowly escaped death in New Mexico in 1950 and rescued a badly burned bear cub, we wouldn’t have that reminder.