Ignition

Wildfires start because of people or lightning. This dashboard, based on data from the National Interagency Fire Center, shows the breakdown, both nationally and regionally. The rate of human-caused wildfires has been pretty steady at more than 80 percent, but some lightning-caused blazes in Alaska and the West can get very big and influence the national acreage totals. Learn more about the issue by checking out our wildfire page and PowerPoint deck.

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Visualizing environmental trends