Fires of this magnitude happen about every other year in that part of the country. The hot dry summers make it the perfect environment for large out of control fires. But the odd thing is that all of it keeps growing back. Every year that a wild fire spreads, there is always plenty of dry plant life to support it. Nature continues to replenish the natural plant life on the planet despite what we do to destroy it. In this case, the fire was caused by lightening, but two years ago, the huge blaze was caused by a campfire not being put out.
Extinguishing wildfires may not always be the correct solution
Many landscapes need fire but population expansion into wildland areas creates a tension between different interest groups. Researchers from across the globe show that a combination of factors, including the problem of invasive plants, landscape change, climate change, population growth, human health, economic, social and cultural attitudes that may be transnational make a re-evaluation of fire and mankind necessary. Ref. Source 9d.
Wildfires: Smoke and cloud interactions unexpectedly result in cooling. For years, scientists determined that smoke, overall, diminishes clouds' cooling effect by absorbing light that the clouds beneath the aerosols would otherwise reflect. This new study does not dispute that phenomenon. However, more dominantly, the new study found that smoke and cloud layers are closer to each other than previously thought. This makes the clouds more reflective of light and, thus, accelerates the clouds' cooling effect. Source 1b.