Letter: Hold off on fire finger-pointing

Laura Penny's op-ed was excellent as was an earlier op-ed own playing with fire. I grew up on an old homestead in the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho. Forest fires large and small were a way of life 75 years ago. We had more than one. The first outside our property was due to a lightning storm which left many small fires. The local ranger station was out of available people so even though teenagers my brother and I were conscripted. Rain had slowed the fires. We hiked the couple miles to the strike with fire packs and quickly contained the fire to less than an acre. We left the scene the next day. Two days later a fire erupted in the canyon downhill from the original fire burning thousands of acres of timberland. The culprit was thought to be a smoldering cone which rolled into the canyon. Before leaving for military service I had many other experiences with forest fires.