This past summer, Ontario saw one of the busiest fire seasons of the past decade, with nearly 1,600 fires as of Oct. 2. 

As summer storms swept through the province, electrical storms often accompanied them, and with them hundreds of lightning strikes. These strikes, coupled with an increase in human activity and burning during the spring and summer months, account for many of the forest and wild fires that occurred throughout the province. 

It doesn't end here; the trend is expected to continue, with fires becoming more active, larger and more aggressive. I spent a summer embedded with a forest fire team in northern Ontario watching the battle being fought on the ground.