Lightning causes approximately 17,400 fires annually in the United States. Peak season begins in June, so now is the time to learn how to protect your property and family members with one of these lightning safety tips.

It took firefighters six days to gain control of a wildfire that burned significantly more than 70,600 acres in Southern California's Mojave National Preserve, located about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles and 40 miles west of the Nevada border.

Five separate blazes were sparked by lightning on Wednesday, June 22, 2005. They soon merged to create a major wildfire, that was finally contained at 6 p.m. Monday, June 27. Because the region is remote, only five homes, six trailers, two cabins and additional buildings were destroyed, but families were forced to evacuate. Thunder Protection Price in Bangladesh

More than 900 firefighters battled what Capt. Greg Cleveland of the Southern California Incident Management Team called "the biggest fire on record within the 1.6-million-acre preserve," in line with the Los Angeles Times. A large number of acres of dry grass, juniper, sagebrush and piñon--bushy and overgrown after last winter's record rainfall--were quickly engulfed as strong winds fanned flames. Once the winds started to die down on Sunday, firefighters caught the break they needed.

A Summertime Jolt

The U.S. Fire Administration estimates that lightning causes 17,400 fires annually, with an average of 10 deaths, 75 injuries and $138 million in property damage. Two-thirds of those disasters occur between June and August (25 percent in July alone).

Most lightning strikes occur outdoors, igniting brush, grass and other materials; 41 percent hit homes and interior structures, zapping roofs, sidewalls, framing and electrical wires with as much as 100 million volts of electricity. The overwhelming majority of casualties (89 percent) are due to structure fires. In fact, a 2003 Insurance Research Council survey revealed that 25 percent of homeowner claims cite lightning or hail as the reason for their losses.