The week before school began, lightning started the Camuesa Fire near Red Rock. Julie and I were hiking up Mono Creek that day, into the remote Dick Smith Wilderness behind the fire. That trail starts after a two hour drive on a dead-end dirt road. On our drive out, we saw dozens of lightning strikes in the backcountry mountains, but only one started a fire.
Lightning is the major natural cause of wildfires.
Lightning-caused Camuesa Fire burning into the backcountry behind Red Rock on August 26, 1999.