The US Forest Service's 1935 '10:00 AM policy' suppressed every fire by 10:00 AM the next day, which made sense naively but was extremely risky because it prevented small fires from burning out, allowing fuel to accumulate until conditions became ripe for massive megafires; modern fire management acknowledges that allowing some small fires to burn reduces the likelihood of catastrophic megafires.

causalpending

Speaker

Derek Muller

Evidence Quote

Suppress every single fire by 10:00 AM... strategy is extremely risky... let most small fires burn and only intervene when necessary.

Source

You've (Likely) Been Playing The Game Of Life WrongVeritasium
Created: 8/11/2026, 7:21:07 AM

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