Jodi, my sympathies. My own home town of Los Alamos went up in flames not too long ago, burning down the house we lived in when I went to kindergarten and 1st grade 
I know there is a sense in which fires serve a useful and necessary purpose, but I hate to think of all that beautiful countryside turning to carbon and stumps.
I feel for ya. I grew up in Nevada in brush country and fires were a fact of life. I was there in 1996 which was, until this year, considered one of the worst fire seasons. I was able to leave for college on time because we had had a series of dry lightning strikes and all the major highways going out of town were closed because of fire. The landmark mountain just north of town was completely backlit with orange. Despite the danger to the town, I still consider it one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.
Luckily my town didn’t lose any homes, but three historic buildings were destroyed in a nearby mining town.
Oh yeah??? Well we are having mud fires here in florida. It actually is burning under the ground until it finds shallow mud. It then jumps to the trees and grass