Why Finland is so good at handling forest fires. Hint: It's not because of raking

Months before devastating wildfires caused havoc in California, firefighters from across Europe headed to Sweden as authorities there struggled to extinguish several massive blazes. Officials in Sweden eventually got so desperate that they ordered an air force jet to drop a bomb in the middle of the wildfire's center to deprive the blaze of oxygen.

The strategy failed and Sweden's fires raged on. But just a few hundred miles away, in neighboring Finland, officials worried about a far different problem: not enough wildfires. "From nature's point of view, the diversity of species and habitats suffers from too few fires," the Finnish Forest Association concluded.

http://www.startribune.com/why-finland-is-so-good-at-handling-forest-fires-hint-it-s-not-because-of-raking/500875281/