Re: Preventable
an intense firestorm can kill by taking all available oxygen out of the air
Not to mention simply cooking people with its heat, or searing their lungs. Fireproof houses would just make it easier to find the bodies.
As for the rest of your post: agree on all points. Fire risks in the US Southwest are a complex problem. Mistakes have certainly been made (including, as you pointed out, not just forestry but the importation of eucalyptus1), but those are contributors, not the entire cause.
Complicated problems are complicated.
1Some of that eucalyptus was imported in an attempt to quickly grow lumber for railroad ties. Jack London was a member of one such investor group. It turns out eucalyptus isn't suitable for the job, but it's great for fueling wildfires. Tenner discusses the subject a bit in When Things Bite Back.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
