C. Phillip Weatherspoon and Carl N. Skinner of the Forest Service, for instance, are beginning a comparative study of fire and fire surrogates on coniferous forest in California. Other researchers, Covington and his colleagues among them, are also investigating as many variables as possible, trying to balance fire, thinning, judicious logging and perhaps even the use of horses to remove fuel from roadless lands. As for the Cerro Grande blaze, it will need to be studied as well. Covington worries that the crown fire was atypical for the ponderosa-pine forests and other habitats and that they may not come back. But it will be a while before the country has any clear procedures that would rejuvenate forests while avoiding millions in damage.
All fires are different.
It is not like the lab, where you turn on the burner. It just boggles the mind.