This is analogous to building on the flood plain of a river. Sooner or later you pay the consequences. Communities have not recognized this problem and thus have not faced it with zoning restrictions. To begin, we must realize that fires are a natural and a needed part of our environment. Instead of spending money to put out fires everywhere they occur, we need a massive public education program to promote the merits of fire.
Fires have as much right to exist as grizzlies and wolves.
Just as predator control has upset natural balances, fire control has had the same consequences. We must come to the realization that fire suppression, except in specific locations needed to protect human habitation and life, is a direct affront to the ecological balance of this continent. Smokey the Bear policies have done more to destroy the wildlife habitat and ecological balance of the western U.S. than any other human intrusion. But logging a burned area like Warner Creek is an even more grievous ecological affront. Fires are, like disease and insects, natural processes in forest ecosystems.