{"id":24906,"date":"2025-07-15T13:05:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T20:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/?p=24906"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:38:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T18:38:39","slug":"wildfire-causes-human-caused-and-lightning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wildfire-causes-human-caused-and-lightning\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildfire Causes: Human-caused and Lightning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There are two categories of wildfire starts in B.C.: human-caused and lightning. Any fire not started by lightning is categorized as \u2018human-caused\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why don&#8217;t we provide more detail about human-caused fires?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wildfire investigations&nbsp;can be complex and may take weeks or even months to complete.&nbsp;We employ fire origin and cause specialists to conduct investigations in accordance with international standards to determine the cause of a fire. They may look for:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ignition sources&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Burn patterns&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Physical evidence&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Weather history\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"24947\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Multiple-lightning-strikes-Billy-Stevens-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Multiple lightning strikes hitting the land\" class=\"wp-image-24947\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Multiple-lightning-strikes-Billy-Stevens-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Multiple-lightning-strikes-Billy-Stevens-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Multiple-lightning-strikes-Billy-Stevens-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Multiple-lightning-strikes-Billy-Stevens-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Multiple-lightning-strikes-Billy-Stevens-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" data-id=\"24937\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Erik-Hanson1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"Post-fire landscape with burnt ground and trees.\" class=\"wp-image-24937\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Erik-Hanson1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Erik-Hanson1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Erik-Hanson1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Erik-Hanson1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/Erik-Hanson1-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" data-id=\"24942\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/2024-SoilBurnSeverityTesting-Slocan-WLBR-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"BC Wildfire Service member examining a burnt tree.\" class=\"wp-image-24942\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/2024-SoilBurnSeverityTesting-Slocan-WLBR-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/2024-SoilBurnSeverityTesting-Slocan-WLBR-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/2024-SoilBurnSeverityTesting-Slocan-WLBR-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/2024-SoilBurnSeverityTesting-Slocan-WLBR-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/app\/uploads\/sites\/786\/2025\/07\/2024-SoilBurnSeverityTesting-Slocan-WLBR-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A common misconception is that most&nbsp;human-caused&nbsp;wildfires are started by either cigarette butts or campfires. There are many other ways that wildfires can be&nbsp;caused&nbsp;by people (e.g. equipment use or recreational activities).&nbsp;With current wildfire maps and information available online, explicitly identifying a human-cause could inadvertently place blame on property owners or companies without due investigation and process. To prevent misidentification and protect personal privacy, it is essential to handle this information responsibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some public sources of information include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Updating our guidance documents that provide tips on safer burning practices\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/assets\/gov\/public-safety-and-emergency-services\/wildfire-status\/fire-bans-and-restrictions\/category-1-campfire-brochure.pdf\">Category 1 (campfires)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/assets\/gov\/public-safety-and-emergency-services\/wildfire-status\/fire-bans-and-restrictions\/category-2-brochure.pdf\">Category 2 open fire<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/gov\/content\/safety\/wildfire-status\/prevention\/fire-bans-and-restrictions\/ofts-burn-registration\">Category 3 open fire<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recent updates to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/gov\/content\/safety\/wildfire-status\/prevention\/fire-bans-and-restrictions\/open-burning\">Open Fire and Safer Burning<\/a> section of our website to include safer burning tips and make these documents easier to find<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Regular posts on Facebook and Instagram reminding the public to use fire carefully and providing safer burning tips<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Videos and other materials to provide visuals for safer burning tips<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If members of the public are looking for further information on statistics for current and past fire seasons, that information can be found on the <a href=\"https:\/\/wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca\/dashboard\">BC Wildfire Service Dashboard<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.gov.bc.ca\/gov\/content\/safety\/wildfire-status\/wildfire-response\/wildfire-investigations\">Wildfire investigations &#8211; Province of British Columbia<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/make-sure-todays-burn-doesnt-become-tomorrows-wildfire\/\">Make sure today\u2019s burn doesn\u2019t become tomorrow\u2019s wildfire \u2013 BC Wildfire Service<\/a><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are two categories of wildfire starts in B.C.: human-caused and lightning. Any fire not started by lightning is categorized as \u2018human-caused\u2019. Why don&#8217;t we provide more detail about human-caused fires? Wildfire investigations&nbsp;can be complex and may take weeks or even months to complete.&nbsp;We employ fire origin and cause specialists to conduct investigations in accordance &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wildfire-causes-human-caused-and-lightning\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8187,"featured_media":24927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[57,32],"class_list":["post-24906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-learning","tag-prevention"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24906"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24952,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24906\/revisions\/24952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.gov.bc.ca\/bcwildfire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}