Wildfires are actually an important part of a forests life cycle, and they have always been around. They kill off massive swaths of old forest allowing new forest to grow, and diversifying the environment. They have been around since the forests have been, and there is a reason why they are not cited as one of the many things that is so bad for the environment. It is because they are necessary. The native Americans used to do controlled burns which would allow us to coexist with the forest fires without damaging either life form. We Americans, however, killed the vast majority of them so we could take this land. This is why it has gotten so out of hand today.