Driving back from San Diego last tuesday we witnessed some of the bleak and charred scenery along the freeway north of LA. According to just one article I have read about fires in San Bernadino County alone, two fires that had merged (Sawtooth and Millard) destroyed over 86,000 acres. In the Sawtooth fire 221 structures were lost. These fires were burning in an area with large expanses of dead trees that were killed by pine bark beetles.