Of course much of the fire danger is due to our focus on suppression over the past decades.
In this terrain, forest fires would normally sweep through frequently and burn off the dead trees and undergrowth, leaving most healthy trees standing. This serves to keep the amount of fuel low at any particular time.
But we have historically thought of forest fires as bad things, even as something unnatural that should be eliminated. We like our national forests green and standing.
So instead of burning off in the normal way, our suppression of fire allows the dead vegetation to pile up in the forests around us. The problem is that when the fire does come (and it will), the fires are much hotter and more devastating than they should be.
In this unfortunate way our love of the forests has actually interfered with their overall health.