Do humans or lightning cause more wildfires in the US?
29 October 2022
Published by: https://www.weforum.org
USA
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Wildfires can be triggered by natural causes or human activity.
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Those caused by lightning have historically led to more damage in the US, especially in the West.
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But fires caused by humans have resulted in more damage in recent years.
Comparing Lightning-Caused and Human-Caused U.S. Wildfires
Each year, thousands of acres of land are scorched by wildfires across the United States. While most of these fires are triggered by natural causes such as lightning, some are unfortunately caused by human activity.
Historically, we can see that lightning-caused fires have led to more damage in the U.S., and this is especially true in the West region which includes states like California, Oregon, and Washington.
That said, it’s worth noting that in three out of the six years from 2016–2021, human-caused wildfires led to more damage.
