the problem with all of this is humans. we stop fires before they do their job naturally. areas that are prone to fires (cali and florida) need to fires to clear out built up brush and to stimulate growth of certian flora. for example, most pine tree seeds can't spread without a fire to open up the seed cones. by doing a described burn, you limit the amount of brush that has built up on the ground and reduce the amount of hot burning flora. so when a natural fire breaks out, it will burn cooler in temperature and will spread less.
as for the animals in these areas. their populations have developed to cope with frequent fires. even though some have died, they will repopulate later.
as a reference point......i went to USF and studied ecology under a professor that has been studying the effects of prescibed burns to detail their benifits and damages. the research has pointed to florida needing fires every 5 years to prevent large, hot fires and that the flora and fauna bounce back in time.
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