California has over 33 million acres of forest land, about a third of the state's total area, as well as other wild land areas. For decades we've done everything possible to suppress fires, but they just keep getting bigger and more destructive. And that's partly because of all our suppression efforts. KQED Science reporter Danielle Venton explains how different ecosystems are evolved to burn sometimes, much more often than they have of late. Additional Reading: Read a transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Danielle Venton. This episode of Bay Curious was made by Olivia Allen-Price, Annie Fruit, Amanda Font, Christopher Beale, and Ana De Almeida Amaral. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Holly Kernan, and the whole KQED family.