Wildfire Regime in the Boreal Forest and the Idea of Suppression and Fuel Buildup
The idea of unnatural fuel buildup due to fire suppression causing a change in fire regime has little support for closed-canopy ecosystems such as chaparral and boreal and subalpine forests. The change in fire regime observed in the ponderosa-pine ecosystem results primarily from a change in fuel structure (i.e., development of intermediate-height fuels connecting surface and crown fuels and an increase in crown-fuel continuity and density)...
Johnson, E., Miyanishi, K. and Bridge, S. (2001). Wildfire Regime in the Boreal Forest and the Idea of Suppression and Fuel Buildup. Conservation Biology, 15(6): 1554-1557.