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Wildfires are getting worse. Here's how we fight them now

Life and Art from FT Weekend

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The History of Fire in North America

For thousands of years, Indigenous people set controlled fires in their cold season. These were pre-planned low intensity fires to get rid of plants and shrubs that could fuel bigger fires down the line. European settlers came and they started seeing the burning of the land as like this magical mystical. It's now seen as having been a sort of self-defeating strategy - you managed to put out fires, but you just leave bigger fires in store.

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