[kurthr]

Well, once you've allowed hundreds of thousands of people to build houses there, which ones are you going to burn? Seriously, do something and they won't burn today. Do nothing and they burn. All over the pacific northwest there are millions of people who live in forested areas, which will burn without fire control.

You can do burns when things are wetter, but how many $Bs are you going to be liable for? Or you can just make the insurance unattainable.