lightning strikes

Environment Canada is trying to find out if climate change is to blame for a spike in lightning strikes that is starting fires and frying electronics, said Gabor Fricska, lightning service development supervisor for the Meteorological Service of Canada.

Wildfire behaviour in British Columbia received a late-summer boost from higher than normal temperatures and lower than normal rainfall, especially in the north, and provincial officials say dry conditions are expected well into the fall.

Lightning strikes have sparked dozens of new wildfires in British Columbia, as thunderstorms brought mixed blessings to the province's battle against its worst fire season on record.

It is gearing up to be a record-breaking fire year in the northern state. By the end of June, more than a million and a half acres had burned, mostly in the southwestern part of Alaska.

British Columbia has been so successful at putting out wildfires in recent decades that its forests are more prone to flames, says an expert.