• Lightning is the most dangerous and frequently encountered weather hazard people experience each year.
  
  
• Lightning affects all regions. Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Colorado have the most lightning deaths and injuries.
  
  
• Lightning is the number-one cause of storm-related deaths.
  
  
• Damage costs from lightning are estimated at $4-5 billion each year in the U.S.
  
  
• During 2007, 2 people were killed and 6 were injured by lightning in Colorado. In an average year in Colorado, 3 people are killed and 13 are injured.
  
  
• Annually, there are more than 10,000 forest fires caused by lightning.
  
  
  

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• An average of 1.2 million acres of U.S. woodland burn every year.
  
  
• More than four out of every five wildfires are caused by people.
  
  
• Negligent human behavior such as smoking in forested areas and improperly extinguishing campfires are common causes of forest fires.
  
  
• Weather conditions can directly contribute to the occurrence of wildfires such as through lightning strikes or indirectly such as by an extended dry spell or drought that contributes to the availability of fuel.
  
  
• A large wildfire, or conflagration, is often capable of modifying the local weather conditions or producing "its own weather."
  
  
• More than six million acres of forest land in Colorado is at high risk for catastrophic wildfire. This area is referred to as Colorado’s Red Zone.

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