A forest fire season dominated by lightning strikes – especially in the latter part of the summer – cost Ontario taxpayers $118 million for fire-fighting initiatives, including ground crews and waterbombers, the province says. The amount is a lot less than some previous seasons, in which the price-tag has gone as high as $231 million. The lowest has been about $75 million. Although lightning accounted for most of the blazes, just over 200 of the 776 fires that burned across the province were caused by human carelessness, according to an interim report on the season by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. In all, there were more fires this summer than in 2016, but the total for this season – 776 – was lower than the 10-year provincial average of 791.