Capt. Ray Gatchalian of the Oakland Fire Department adds, "Fire is part of the natural cycle. We need to understand cycles better and learn how to be part of nature, rather than try to control it. After all, the universe was created by fire. People contain fire. These fires are wake-up calls. We need to pose the question, 'What do these fires mean?'"

This Spring was the driest in 107 years of data-gathering in Colorado, which experienced its worst wildfire season ever. It was the second-driest year in Southern California and Arizona, which also experienced its worst fires ever.

From the time weather records have been kept, up to the year 2000, meteorologists report that six of the ten hottest years in the U.S. were in the l990's. The World Meteorological Organization reports that the 1990s were the warmest decade globally in at least 1,000 years.

Global warming is heightened by forest fires and deforestation, according to the recent "Global Review of Forest Fires", by the World Wildlife Fund. Andy Rowell and Dr. Peter Moore report that "fires are already a significant source of climate change."

They add that "emissions from tropical forests in a year of bad fires could be equivalent to one-third of the emissions from fossil fuel burning."

"First the drought, then come the fires. That's all anybody in the West is talking about," noted Bill Blackstock, an outfitter in Taos, New Mexico. He runs river rafting trips. But the Rio Grande River that he usually works will barely float a raft.