High rates of landscape degradation not product of landscape fires
Once humans discovered how to tame fire, they began using it for heat, for cooking, to scare away animals and to alter their environs, especially burning areas to plant and to restore grazing land. In Madagascar, scientists and conservationists have long believed that fire is a leading cause of high landscape degradation, but an international team of researchers has found that medium to large fires on the island are similar to other tropical locations.
Source: psu.edu