I'm coming a bit late to this; just came back from hiking in Spain (that should be a valid excuse at least on this forum, right? )

I think the approach suggested by Aimless makes sense. But in fact, fire danger has grown such that it's no longer just a "first 700 miles" thing.

Alcohol stoves are the clear favorite of PCT thru-hikers, or at least were (?), because of the availability of fuel. Hardware stores carry denatured alcohol, many gas stations carry gasline antifreeze, and alcohol fuel can be dispensed by the ounce, whereas canister stoves are dispensed by the ... canister. PITA, and less available, and then you have to find a place to responsibly dispose of the canister afterwards.

But of course people do thru-hike with canister stoves, and as I recall, with certain limitations I think canisters can even be sent (mailed) in resupply boxes. Here's one reference to this, anyway:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/content.php/42-Canister-stove-fuel-FAQ

Canister fuel is certainly a more efficient fuel to use, if you can get it, and don't end up carrying an extra canister too-o often (something that makes it trickier to do total-system weight-carried comparisions). I've used a canister on trails where I felt that I could get replacment canisters along the way often enough to make it credible. But for long distance hiking (in the US) in general I still prefer alcohol stoves due to the fuel availability issue.

For the PCT, what I might suggest people do in future is eat cold (stoveless) for the first 700 miles, pick up a stove of some sort when you get your bear canister and other stuff for "the sierras", then sort out after that (when getting rid of the bear canister) what stove is best. If any. Recognizing that as wildfires get to be a bigger issue throughout the west, and not just (as has been historically all too common) California, that more stove restrictions might be put in place in future.

I've walked through an awful (and I mean awful) lot of burned areas on the PCT, a couple of times while things were literally still smoldering. The most emotionally impactful instance of that was hiking a piece of the PCT in WA state that I had hiked multiple times BEFORE it had burned. That really brought it home for me. Alcohol stoves work just great when used with care, responsibly. Canister stoves definitely offer less (not zero but less) chance of an accidental fire.