Fires can be contained

Are we still in the caveman days? There is no excuse for the out-of-control forest fires and unhealthy gray, smoky skies. Here are three simple solutions:

• Thin (not clear-cut) our forests now, which will create thousands of long-term, good-paying jobs (and even tax revenue). And, obviously, the brush would be thinned at the same time. Many of our forests have not been thinned for over 50 years. They are overgrown now, and burning away needlessly, leaving an ugly mess as well.

• Allow simple “waiver” forms on any liability to then allow volunteers (still paid, of course) to actually put the fires out, relatively quickly.

• Build effective fire lines while fighting fires and also make simple paths/primitive roads at strategic intervals in our now overgrown forests to eliminate the possibility of any future devastating huge fires like we are suffering from now. With computers, airplanes and satellites, there really is no excuse for any forest fire to continually grow if the decision-maker for any particular fire line intelligently designates the location for the fire line to effectively do what it is intended to do: to actually stop any fire from going beyond this established fire line.

David Kavanagh

Spokane