Phillip’s Weather Trivia: Who or what starts wildfires

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - As you have seen on WITN, the Western United States is having a rough time with several wildfires. Here in the South, we have our share of wildfires, too. This is the topic of Phillip’s Weather Trivia. Here is the question:

Hint: the question refers to which is responsible for sparking or starting the most. I will give you a clue by saying one of your choices starts the most fires and the other one is responsible for the most acres burned. Does that help? Below is the answer:

Just last year, nearly 18,000 wildfires were started in the Southern United States by people. The vast majority were not on purpose, but human activity was the cause. Some are started by throwing out cigarette butts, others by campers not extinguishing campfires, and other still are produced by sparks of train wheels. Lightning is the 2nd leading cause of wildfires in the South. It is also 2nd in the nation behind humans. However, lightning is responsible for the most acres burned in the US at 60%. This is because lightning strikes are distributed over every county in the US, many of which are sparsely populated by people. Basically, humans are not everywhere to cause fires while lightning is..

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