Wildfire fighting and forest management decisions are potentially being hampered in British Columbia by inaccurate government data, a new research report says.

A University of Calgary study says there need to be more wide, open spaces to prevent catastrophic wildfires like the one that devastated the city of Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta two years ago.

A study by researchers at the University of Calgary's Schulich School of Engineering suggests it's possible to predict where lightning will strike and how often.