Did we just get lucky somehow between the Gold Rush and 2018?
I agree w/ you on global effort for climate change. Hopefully we can get started on a National level soon.
And of course other effects like PG&E not maintaining their grid => unnecessary fires; more people live in forests => more deadly/damaging fires; etc.
As usual, looking at data and scientific consensus will help, I just hope we start doing so sooner, rather than later
You'd expect maybe after 30 or 40 years in 1900, we would have seen the massive statewide fires like we have now.
But I find it hard to believe we have to wait all the way until 2017 to see the results of "fighting fires"
This stuff was not uncommon over the hundreds of years of this country's history. As other commenters have mentioned, it's lasted for decades in the American East, West, and particularly Midwest.
Climate change is an issue, but saying this stuff never happens and (presumably human-led) climate change is the sole reason is not really likely to be true.