The BC Wildfire Service confirmed nine new wildfires started on Saturday, bringing the current total of blazes in the province to 152.
Since April 1st, there have been 739 forest fires which have burned nearly 369,674 hectares.
Battling them has cost almost $125.8 million.
A cold front is heading through southern and central BC today and tomorrow. Fire Information Officer Navi Saini says there’a 60% chance of lightning in parts of the area but a lot of rain in the forecast.
“It will be a combination of working on those larger fires as well as maintain success on initial attacks so if there are any new lightning-caused starts, getting to them while they’re still small will be key.”
Saini couldn’t speculate when the Williams Lake evacuation order would be lifted. Ministry of Transportation spokesperson Norm Parkes says the 100 Mile House re-entry process is going well.
“It’s been very smooth, we’ve had no issues with any traffic moving in and out of 100 Mile so, from our point of view, the re-entry was well-planned and well-executed.”
The White Lake fire, burning northwest of Williams Lake, is 8,107 hectares. It’s now 10% contained and crews continue to focus on dozer lines. The nearby Wildwood blaze is 13,215 hectares. Crews are working on machine guard and mop up there.
Hanceville fire is estimated at 131,958 hectares and is now 45% contained. Crews are working on the Southeast corner to protect against anticipated winds later this week.
The Gustafsen fire, near 100 Mile House, is 5,700 hectares and 90% contained. Crews are now extinguishing hot spots and doing mop up.
The Sutherland Road fire, near Fort Fraser, is still around 1,590 hectares. There hasn’t been significant growth over the past few days. Crews have a machine guard around most of the fire and are working to completely surround it. There’s still an evacuation alert in place for the area.