For many good reasons it's difficult to find anyone with a good word for forest fires

Fires kill, Smokey the Bear preached to a generation of American children. Fires kill people, wildlife and entire forests. They destroy homes and barns and crops.

Forest fires are terrifying to see and ugly even when the flames are out. Near Hammonton, New Jersey, there is acre upon acre of blackened earth and tree trunks where a forest fire raged early this month.

In late March and early April, 192 forest fires charred 17,000 acres of New Jersey woodland despite the efforts of 1,000 firefighters. Some houses were saved but eight homes and two house trailers were destroyed.

Dry, sunny and occasionally windy weather that has prevailed since Easter is ideal for forest fires

Since leaf buds hadn't yet opened, the full effect of the sun fell upon the forest floor, drying the accumulation of last year's leaves. Wind evaporated whatever moisture remained and the litter was like tinder awaiting a spark.

Sun alone isn't going to start many wildfires. Man and his trash-burning and carelessly thrown matches play a much greater part. But somewhere most people have forgotten that forest fires existed before there were matches and that several kinds of trees, shrubs and wildfire evolved with fire.

"We're not supposed to say this," a biologist who works for a state agency said, "but the best deer management tools are a chain saw and pack of matches."

Not one white-tail deer in a million has a neck long enough to browse a 40 foot tall oak tree. But all deer can reach with ease the shoots that sprout from the base of scrub oak trees after a forest fire.

Grouse find little to their liking in dense stands of mature trees. Create some openings through fire or logging in the same woods, and grouse will return.

Controlled burning has long been used to create proper habitat for bobwhite quail in the southern states. A "cool" fire which burns up low, thick vegetation but does not harm tree roots or trunks seems best. This provides open cover on the ground while offering a screen from predators above.

In the August-September 1976 issue of National Wildlife Magazine William R. Moore, a former chief of fire management operations with the U.S. Forest Service, wrote:

"Over the years, millions of Americans have learned - thanks in large part to the admonitions of Smokey the Bear that forest fires are bad."

"Today, however, many scientists argue that some fires are not only good but absolutely essential to maintain the natural balance of most forest ecosystems. Recent research has shown that in most wilderness areas, fire frequency has a profound effect on the distribution, health and abundance of wildlife.

"Fire cleans up over mature timber stands, recycles nutrients from burned trunks into the soil and prepares the land for new plant life," Moore declared,

In the thickly settled eastern half of the nation, letting wildfire run its course would be disastrous to life and property. No one is advocating this and no one is encouraging a careless attitude toward forest fires.

The key, it seems, is in the word "controlled." A fire that is started by forestry and wildfire experts under proper conditions of heat, humidity and wind can be beneficial by preparing the earth for renewal and bringing young foliage closer to the ground.