I like to see forest fires. They are an integral part of the forest life cycle. The real shame is that the American Forest Service is still way behind the times as far as this goes and still subscribes to fire prevention as their primary philosophy, which has been proven time and again to be a terribly harmful strategy. Preventing the smaller wildfires that should naturally sweep through a region from time to time only makes the (eventual, inevitable) wildfire far more harmful than it should be, with so much tinder accumulated that even the largest trees die. Combined with the clearcut and monoculture replant philosophy of our timber industry, American forest "management" has resulted in a huge loss of ecosystem diversity, and far more damaging fires when they do occur.

A normal, natural and healthy forest will have sections in all stages of growth - old growth, newly burned zones, decade old burns dominated by wildflowers and pioneer species, and younger forest stands establishing dominance in the several decades old burn zones. This diversity of habitat is of course a boon for all animal life and also ensures that when a fire does sweep through, it's impact is not as harmful and there are colonizing plants nearby to quickly start the cycle over again. Burn zones are beautiful in their own alien way.