Which lightning occurrence is less likely to cause a fire compared with cloud-to-ground?

Which lightning occurrence is less likely to cause a fire compared with cloud-to-ground?

• A. Lightning in General
• B. Ground Strike
• C. Direct Strike
• D. Cloud-to-Cloud

Answer: (C)

Lightning starts fires when the discharge deposits enough heat into flammable material. A direct strike concentrates the current into the struck object and the arc energy is largely confined to that path, so there’s less energy heat reaching nearby combustibles. Cloud-to-ground discharges, by contrast, often transfer heat into ground fuels or arcing paths near the surface, increasing the chance of ignition. So a direct strike is less likely to cause a fire compared with a typical cloud-to-ground event.

Lightning starts fires when the discharge deposits enough heat into flammable material. A direct strike concentrates the current into the struck object and the arc energy is largely confined to that path, so there’s less energy heat reaching nearby combustibles. Cloud-to-ground discharges, by contrast, often transfer heat into ground fuels or arcing paths near the surface, increasing the chance of ignition. So a direct strike is less likely to cause a fire compared with a typical cloud-to-ground event.