A recent forestry law effectively disposed of dedicated forest guards; the dire state of Russian roads often makes it impossible for firefighters to reach burning villages; much firefighting equipment is in an appalling state.
As expected, California also saw an intense wildfire season in 2014, blowing well through its firefighting budget.
Support should be less about firefighting and more about prevention, with the ultimate goal of helping people stay independent.
The substance she created, lightweight, flexible, strong and heat-resistant, would prove to have hundreds of applications, in everything from space capsules to skis, fibre-optic cables to suspension bridges, firefighting suits to oven gloves.
"We only narrowly avoided a catastrophe," said a firefighting source.
Aware that the crisis is moving into a new phase, with the emphasis shifting from firefighting to working out how supervision should be restructured, America's treasury secretary wants to seize the moment.
From farming to firefighting, some things resonate so strongly with the public that only the boldest politicians will risk a scrap.
Even firefighting itself has been blamed: by preventing smaller fires in forests, firemen ensure that, when one starts, it's a monster.Early in July, a team of scientists writing in Science magazine found another culprit: climate change.
(The vast majority of cases involve men harassing women).The worst behaviour today tends to be in industries where women are a small minority, such as construction or firefighting, or where workers are disproportionately young (fast-food restaurants) or too desperate to complain, says Michelle Caiola of Legal Momentum, which provides legal support for women.
Second, regulations are sure to change significantly after all this is over, suggesting that next time won't look anything like this time.The Federal Reserve and its partners in financial firefighting have added another bulwark against moral hazard ensuring that firm bailouts punish shareholders as much as possible.
FSA groups sprout again as soon as the firefighting squads move on to bash the next rebellious town, prolonging a game of whack-a-mole: as one insurgent pocket is squashed, another pops up.
