Although undisturbed tropical evergreen forests are often thought to be fire-
resistant ecosystems due to lack of sufficiently dry fuel loads (Bond & van
Wilgen 1996, Kauffman et al. 1988, Uhl et al. 1988), this myth is rapidly collapsing with the proliferation of recent forest fires throughout south-east Asia
(Kinnard & O'Brien 1998, Leighton & Wirawan 1986), Central America (Anon.
1998a), and northern South America (Anon. 1998b) following unusually severe
seasonal droughts.