It's eminently doable, but extremely labour intensive and thus very, very expensive.
The number one thing we can do is reduce the tinder and fuel available for fires to get started or continue to burn. Reduction can be accomplished by:
- Clearing the forest floor from brush, shrubs, and fallen trees.
This reduces the fuel available to the fire and decreases the intensity, making it easier to fight.
- Increasing the height of the canopy.
The process of eliminating smaller trees that will ignite and act as an elevator to the large canopy will help prevent larger trees from igniting.
- Eliminating smaller trees and branches.
These are fuels that can carry a ground fire all the way from the forest floor to the top of the trees.
- Systematically removing large trees.
This reduces overlap of branches and the ability to transfer fire from tree to tree. Thinning can be conducted in an eco-friendly way that still maintains clusters of trees and is favorable to wildlife and habitats.
Clearing underbrush from the forest floor, thinning small trees, and maintaining large trees to prevent the spread of fire to the canopy is a sizeable project - in which you'll need mechanical assistance
So perhaps the permatanned loon was on to something, albeit a very expensive something. That said, probably a lot less expensive than the damage caused in this conflagration. When weighed against the cost of rebuilding it has turned out to be sage advice - far more than mere vague opinion.
