Living With Fire

Residents of the UK who have never been to the US have a lot of trouble with the concept of wild fires. It's understandable, as drought is not a common occurrence here and would be considered a once-in-a-lifetime event. Even then, the idea of a fire chewing up 10 to 15 thousand acres will furrow many a brow. There is a lot of moisture here. It comes from the Atlantic Ocean from the west and the North Sea from the east.
The entire land mass could fit into Oregon, most of the UK being no wider than Indiana, though the widest area is comparable to the width of Pennsylvania. From the northernmost islands to the southernmost tip of England the length is roughly equivalent to drawing a line from the Canadian-N. Dakota border to the Nebraska-Kansas border. That's not very big. Probably one reason the climate is fairly wet. Moisture doesn't have such a large land mass to move over. Many property owners still burn their trash or their leaves. Many parts of the US don't allow outdoor burning of this sort and during dry, windy conditions won't even allow outdoor smoking.
Over here in the UK, you could drop a lit cigarette on the ground and it would be out in no time. Just north of my home in Colorado, someone tossed a still-burning cigarette butt out a window and because of the windy, dry conditions nearly 400 homes and over 10,000 acres burned to the ground.

A year later, I am out walking and decide to show how much some moisture helps in recovery. After the fires were put out- and in part the reason the fire finally was controlled-the rainy season began. This was followed by a long, wet winter and spring, and the summer was fairly rainy as well.

This is the front of my house from .4 miles. See those trees on the right?

If you looked through those trees and about 100yds up the road, this is where the fire started, on my left. Less than .5 miles away

This used to be heavily forested. These are the few trees that have yet to be cut down or have a chance of survival because the tops have greened out.

The grass fields in the park had to be replanted and well and sprinkler systems replaced along with tree removal

The flooding left huge ruts in drainage areas where none existed before, causing roads to be covered in soot-filled ash and mud

And out my back door, a rainbow, and land mostly untouched by the flooding. During the worst of the flooding, everything to the left of my driveway and the street in front were raging rivers with water as much as 12" deep.                                                                                                                                  

So, I have seen firsthand how destructive fires can be, and am amazed by how rapidly the land can recover with the right amount of moisture. So UK residents, next time you mutter about a little rain, be glad you don't have to worry about long hot stretches without.