The many forum members who live in western North America are watching the news of Greece's forest and brush fires with empathy, since scenes of this kind are unhappily familiar to us. The loss of life and property is very sad, but at least there is a good chance that the natural environment will recover quickly. Last fall I visited an area in the Peloponnese that had burned very hot just a few months earlier. The bare red earth was liberally dotted with magnificently flowering bulbs, including Cyclamen graecum, a Biarum, and Arisarum vulgare. Many trees appeared to be alive, though charred at the base, and many shrubs were resprouting from underground. Even ferns were reappearing in the crevices of the rocks. If the Greek government manages to prevent developers from seizing on the burned areas on the pretext that they are no longer forested, and thus open for building, the landscape should recover, though with some erosion if heavy rains follow. It is to be hoped that the state will also help the rural people repair their homes, which, fortunately, are mostly masonry with tile roofs and may be salvageable. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA