Can fires have positive effects?
In the United States they used to have a policy of putting out all forest fires. However, in the 1960s they realised that there were no new giant sequoia trees growing. They grow in the Western USA and have a larger diameter than any other tree species in the world.
Forest fires are a crucial part of their lifecycle. Fires take warm air up into the tops of the trees, which dries the cones and makes them split, allowing the seeds to pop out.
Fire also clears the undergrowth allowing the seeds to germinate. To allow these processes to continue, the authorities started creating controlled fires and allowing natural fires to burn.