Let them burn – Inside the search for a better way to fight wildfires – The U.S. Forest Service’s Fire Lab in Missoula, Montana

"By fighting these fires, we unfortunately enter what’s called the fire paradox, and that is the harder you try to suppress them, the worse they get when they do happen," Finney said.

Under normal conditions, wildfires will thin out forests. But by constantly putting the fires out, more unburned brush is left to fuel the next one.

Finney said that firefighters should be intentionally setting more so-called prescribed fires to burn off excess vegetation, or simply let some natural fires burn longer.

By Carter Evans CBS News

Full Story: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-wildfires-us-forest-service-searces-for-better-way-to-fight-blazes/