Fire - it has been both blessing and bane to human civilization. When fire provides for us, it gives us weapons, food, warmth and lighting. However, when it does not, fire razes settlements and exterminates people and other animals alike. Especially in the modern day, where given that methods of firefighting predominantly revolve around extinguishing emergent fires and not reducing combustible material, wildfires become increasingly more intense as they have a greater abundance of fuel. In the present, fires could grow to dangerous extents and encroach on towns and cities.
I believe that people should be able to live without worrying that everything theyve built and loved could be reduced to ashes by rapidly spreading wildfires, and that forest fires can stabilize into area-limited and low-temperature burns.
I envision a world where people won't have to be concerned about conflagrations during the summer and the ecosystem maintains a sustainable balance between burns and regrowth. Such a world would have overall improved air quality and reduced casualties during the fire season.
In order to live in such a world, controlled burns need to be implemented as a more prevalent practice in the world. This would reduce the amount of viable fuel that fires can consume, and would consquently result in cooler flames and slower spread. This would not only help to keep the ecosystem stable but would also keep people and property safer from fires.
A fire encroaching on the vicinity of Chongqing, one of China's largest cities. Image by CNN. Retrieved on October 20, 2023 from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/china/china-heat-wave-chongqing-wildfires-intl-hnk/index.html