SERIOUS REVIEW NEEDED OF GOVERNMENT, WHICH IS THE CULPRIT IN THE LOS ALAMOS, N.M. BLAZE

So the cause of the most devastating fires in the Western United States since the massive Yellowstone Park fires of 1998 is -- the government! A blaze that began as a "controlled burn," planned and executed by federal government employees to clear brush, ended up destroying 4,500 homes, burning tens of thousands of acres and forcing the evacuation of Los Alamos, N.M.

President Clinton was forced to declare the city and surrounding area a federal disaster area. There's probably no telling how many millions it cost federal, state and local taxpayers to fight the fire the government started.

Just imagine what the government would do to some poor private citizen or hapless businessman who had done such a thing. The poor soul would be ruined, broken, probably imprisoned. But let government officials operating under official policy do the same thing, and it's just a big "Oops!"

A recent Wall Street Journal demonstrated that "controlled burn" fires such as the one that ignited this disaster are the all-too-common cause of gigantic, out-of-control fires. Congress should promptly convene hearings on Interior Department policy on this issue. Reform of a badly flawed policy can and must follow.