President Bush offered federal help and encouragement to 25,000 firefighters working to contain wildfires that make up the single largest fire event ever recorded in California. This large and complicated wildfire disaster is now demanding 80% of all fire fighting resources in the United States. There have been 2,010 separate fires burning on nearly 900,000 acres since mid-July and mainly confined to 12 counties.

The combined efforts of the U.S. Forest Service and 41 other state forestry departments are helping the California Department of Forestry in the firefighting effort. Wildland firefighters from Canada, Greece, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico are also being used. About 200 injuries have been reported, including deep burns and one firefighter death attributed to a heart attack, said a spokesman from the CDF.

"It's been tough for the residents, I understand that," David Paulison, administrator of FEMA said. "But I have to tell you, the firefighting coordination, considering the size of this event, has been some of the best I've seen. I'm very proud of what's happened." Casualties have, to now, been much lower than in previous disasters in California, including a series of fires in October 2003 that left 24 people dead and destroyed thousands of homes.

• Notible Wildfire Disasters Since 1950

2008 California Wildfire - Getty Image/CDF

There was no organized program to manage and protect United States' forests before 1875. No organization existed to champion fledgling forestry efforts being developed to save and manage American forests. There was no government over-site for vast stretches of American trees and no fire protection. Not one professional forester was trained in the United States.

All that was about to change.

Forestry became an American profession at the end of the 19th Century and was first taught at Cornell University and Yale. These universities created the first college level forestry schools in the Western Hemisphere. University-taught foresters were primarily employed in the newly created United States Division of Forestry, later to be called the United States Forest Service.

A massive conservation movement took the Nation by storm and was instrumental in the creation of the first Timberland Reserve which later became know as Yellowstone National Park. Millions of acres of forest land were later purchased to make up one of the largest public forest ownerships in the World - our National Forests. We still enjoy these forests today...

Yellowstone Timber Reserve - National Park Service Illustration