KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Lightning storms sweeping across British Columbia sparked 132 small fires on Tuesday alone, with more unstable weather is in the forecast for Wednesday.
BC Wildfire service spokesman Ryan Turcot says at least 50 of the fires were recorded in the Cariboo region, the area hardest hit by last year's record-breaking fire season.
The fire danger rating is listed as high to extreme over most of the province and Turcot says more widespread lighting is forecast across the Cariboo and other parts of the province are also at risk.
Evacuation alerts have been issued for separate wildfires burning east and west of Quesnel in central B.C., while the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has expanded an evacuation alert to cover nearly 500 properties in the Keremeos and Cawston areas.
Highway 93 has been closed between Radium and the Alberta boundary by a small wildfire burning just off the road but a detour is possible and the travellers website DriveBC says the route could reopen within hours.
Turcot says several of B.C.'s wildfires were extremely active Tuesday, driven by high winds, and he urges everyone to use extreme caution.
"We are dealing with a lot of new lightning-driven activity. The last thing we need right now is human-caused fires to divert critical resources away from the fires we are responding to right now," he says.
Cooler weather and some rain is in the forecast for the upcoming long weekend, but Turcot calls the shift a double-edged sword.
"When you get instability, you also get a little bit more wind and wind can drive fire activity as well."
The wildfire service has recorded 1,085 wildfires since the season began on April 1, burning nearly 680-square kilometres of woodland.
