An acquaintance working on her forestry PhD told this story more like: some species are adapted to produce forest fires. Pines lay down beds of dry needle and produce compounds that promote flammability. This is their strategy for getting ahead. She also described an interspecies war to claim territory: pines trying to make more fire to burn out their competition, oaks promoting damp and moisture to drown out theirs.

In the future when we all live in the sky, a burning mountain will be a great spectacle that we travel to see. "It's fire season, I'm going north to catch the show this week."