A nearby US Forest Service district is 650k acres. Multiple critical watersheds, protected ecosystems, major agricultural areas, and at least $2.5B in tourism value directly tied to those forests. They have two full-time rangers patrolling that entire area. They can’t afford to hire seasonal workers this coming year, despite the fire season only getting worse. They already rely extensively on volunteer labour from groups that are mostly staffed by retirees. The forestry work is outsourced to shady contractors paid by the acre and Americorps loggers paid below minimum wage, with rushed prescriptions that end up cutting down trees old enough to survive fire and concentrating beetle-infested wood in places that will further undermine the health of the forest.

The American West burning down is such a self-fulfilling prophesy.