answer:I have seen records of prairie fires in Illinois in the 1800’s, where people would drive their horse and buggy out and have a picnic across the river by the light of the fire. No effort was made to put it out. In books I’ve read, pioneer families did attempt to put out fires. However, prevention was better considering they only had wells, and bodies of waters to fight with. (Hand dug trenches, homes built away from brush-etc). Were the fires prevalent without people? In dry years, I’d say there were fires with and without people. However, fires are more often started by humans so suppression came into play.