Wildfires in the Western United States, why not the East?

     Ever since people have settled in the United States, wildfires have occurred numerous times. From the Washington D.C. blaze set off by the British, to the Chicago Wildfire of 1871, wildfires and fire in general have scorched many cities, forests, and towns. However, in the present, there has been mostly wildfires in the Western United States. The East has been free of them, but the West is not. Will the West ever being scorch free like the East?
     The western part of the United States has a much lower population density for mostly everywhere except California and a few major cities like Portland Oregon or Denver Colorado. However, there is plenty of forests and infrastructure that are flammable as a result. For example, the west did not start getting settled till 1850 and wasn't a frontier until 1890. Over half of the United States' National Parks are also located here in the West along with many U.S. National Forests and State Parks. A lot of the land outside of those major cities is not settled leading to many possibilities of wildfires.

     Secondly, only in these suburban areas is where many people settled as that was the land that wasn't rugged or extreme in weather phenomenons. These wildfires can then easily start and not stop as a result with the rugged terrain of the west. It makes it difficult for these firefighters to go up and down the rolling mountains of the west to continue to stop these wildfires. Not only that, but extreme winds high up in the mountains help spread these blazes that become hard to stop. In California right now, shifting Santa Anna winds from the Pacific help spread these blazes from one area to the next.
      The obvious reason for all of this however is the drought. All of the rain that we had in California last year hasn't happened since. As a result, a lot of the vegetation in the West is more vulnerable to wildfires and when they start, they become very hard to stop.

   
  So why not the East then? The eastern United States with the exception of the Appalachians has a very high population density. There are forests in this part of the country, but thanks to the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, this area does not go into droughts as often. There are not as many National and State Parks because the conservation movement did not start until the West was getting settled in the early 1900s.
     The Western United States may experience these wildfires often, but the natural geography and the natural weather phenomenons of the west all have led to why the West is more vulnerable to these than the East.