
Are we prepared to stop a giant wildfire in Cook County?
After watching the terrible fires in California, Cook County officials and residents should take notice that Cook County could, in the future, have forest fires again. The reason is that the Spruce budworm infestation is killing the Balsam and Spruce trees, creating a very flammable forest. In the early 90s, the county had spruce bud work killing trees, and then we had a decade of forest fires, starting with the Temperance Lake fire and ending with the Ham Lake and Pogamy fires.