Study: Humans cause 1/2 of NW wildfires

A first-of-its-kind analysis of wildfire records from 1992-2012 showed that humans started 84 percent of all wildfires nationwide. In northwestern states — including Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Montana — humans started about half of all wildfires. The startling numbers show the importance of the governments and citizens of Northwest states working to reduce human-started fires, which often have direct impacts on infrastructure given their tendency to occur in the wildland-urban interface, said University of Idaho researcher John Abatzoglou /University of Idaho. More here.