Yes it is bad. A real human tragedy in those heavily populated areas. Sadly, most of the western US is being steadily deforested. Warming shifts are causing epidemics of pine borer beetles which kill the trees, then they burn in droughts. Ironically, human fire prevention efforts have led to an unnaturally thick understory in the forests. Then when it dries out it is explosive.
It is hard to get a perspective on this. For the earth it's like shaving a beard. Burning off that California scrub is nothing. 50, 100, a few hundred years and the coniferous forests can all grows back. But for us on the human time scale it is heartbreaking because we won't see it like it was again.