Dear Editor,

The forest fires out west must have the local National Forest personnel thinking – and rightfully so. Forest floors are full of dead wood and leaves like a tinderbox just waiting for a fire to start. The forests around Warren County are no different. You might think that’s not the case but if you’ve been near forests around here you maybe aren’t seeing it. Maybe you’re in camping areas, often cleaned up of debris, or driving through our National Forest roads where trees are usually cut and cleaned up regularly to keep from falling on cars and wires.

Not many get into the deep backwoods of the National Forest around the county except for hunters and they often don’t either since a deer drag from those can put a strong man down. Occasional hikers sometimes do but they’re often preoccupied with just talking to one another, looking around at the trees, birds and things like waterfalls along a manicured trail, paying little attention to the deep in forest floor. In the deep woods of the county, the forest floor is strewn with things to rapidly burn, given the chance. The under-story would easily fire up and not stop till it hits the upper canopy. Stopping of timber harvesting, noted in Friday’s paper, will do nothing but increase the likelihood of serious fires, should the county be hit with an extended dry period. The Forest Service has knowledge of this but their hands are likely tied by the administration. Let’s hope a lengthy drought period doesn’t hit Western Pennsylvania. If it does, our county might see an inferno like the western states are now experiencing.

Dennis Corey

Youngsville