Continuing with this 2nd grade analysis, why have any laws at all?

And I’ve seen people not in the backcountry have fires during burn bans. This just solidifies my point of paying attention to burn bans (including ones in wilderness regulations) and not spouting nonsense about arbitrarily telling people where to have fires based on your anecdotes.

Well, fires aren’t allowed in the alpine already (https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/okawen/alerts-notices/?cid=fsbdev3_053600#wilderness) so that shouldn’t be happening to begin with. Not extinguishing fires completely is not exclusive to the backcountry. I would argue that people backpacking have a better understanding of LNT principles and are overall better stewards than the general public at campgrounds/dispersed campsites.

Is that entirely accurate? I’ve read that it was human-caused but nothing about it being started in the backcountry. I initially read that it was at a campground but haven’t been able to find much info. I’d say a better recommendation would be to pay attention to burn bans and take them seriously. Having a fire in the backcountry is not necessarily worse than anywhere else.