Instead, methods from indigenous groups in Australia might be more effective:
Indigenous groups say they have a better way to fight wildfires – oregonlive.com
In Australia, they do frequent, smaller, cooler fires at night and in the morning to consume fuels and they do controlled burns year round, and include harvesting of fuels too. Where there are highly flammable non-native grasses (think Maui), they may do multiple burns per year to control the vegetation.
This reminds me of a natural burn I saw in Yellowstone National Park. In the park, the lightning caused fire was allowed to burn – in fact, it was burning along side a roadway that remained open. Instead of a conflagration, the fire was burning on the ground with flames 1 to 2 feet in height. Why? They said this was because the humidity was good, winds were low, the ground moisture was decent and the elevation was high. By letting it burn, this would remove fuel loads and prevent future major forest fires. We learned this because the park service put up road side signs to explain what was going on, turning this into an educational experience.
Of course, the smoke detracted from the park experience, particularly overnight when the smoke would settle down into the valleys, including where I was camped. But it appeared to be an effective strategy, thankfully.
