 Any time you hear the word wild, you can bet it's referring to something uncontrollable and unrestrained. Wild things. Wild animal. Wild phase. Wildfires are no exception. Ask any firefighter. Summertime is wildfire season in the North American West. You may think of barbecues, beaches, and bare feet, but blazes are more and more likely to be in the mix too. In recent summers, hot and dry conditions have converged to produce large wildfires in Canada, Alaska, California, and elsewhere. You'd have to be an ostrich not to have noticed. And the question that is on many people's minds is, is climate change to blame? Most climatologists say that we're asking the wrong question. Instead, we should ask, given a drought, how was the drying enhanced by human-induced climate change? Were the impacts greater because of it? Fire behavior expert Janice Cohen from the National Center for Atmospheric Research acknowledges it's complicated, perhaps even more than most of us realize. The necessary ingredients for a wildfire are oxygen, heat, and fuel. And sadly, the necessary spark for wildfires often comes from us, intentional or not. Now consider the terrain, weather, and fuels that make up the fire environment. With these elements, scientists can explain a fire's behavior from start to finish. Climate change's influence is a tougher nut to crack. But as astronomer Sir Martin Rees wisely said, the absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence. Here's what we know for certain. A direct connection between climate change and a specific wildfire event has yet to be proven. But sit tight, attribution research may crack the nut. And science researchers in this emerging field are on the case.