Hot, dry, windy. These are some of the weather factors that influence wildfires.  Indices that describe these factors, along with fuel availability (trees, forest litter, grasses, peat), indicate how easily lightning can ignite wildfires, and how difficult it is to fight wildfires.  Recent increases in wildfire devastation are associated in a small part to climate change, and in a large part to:( 1) population growth in the wildland urban interface, and (2) former forest management strategies ("Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires").   Frontal passage and mountain weather affect flame-front movement and smoke transport.  Extreme firestorms create their own weather, including pyrocumulonimbus clouds and ember storms that can ignite additional fires.  Finally, what actions can you take to enable your neighborhood to be fire safe.