No Help For BC Firefighters Battling 400 Blazes At Hot, Dry Weather Continues - Star

[hatrack]

VANCOUVER – Fire crews in British Columbia continued to wage a battle today against more than 400 wildfires raging across the province. Kim Steinbart with the B.C. Forest Service says there's been no significant changes in any of the six fires threatening nearby communities. Steinbart says there's still no rain in the forecast but a dip in temperature is expected later in the week.

About 125 residents remain out of their homes in Pritchard, where the 13-square-kilometre Martin Mountain fire continues to burn near Kamloops. About 60 properties have been evacuated near the town of Clinton, where the Kelly Creek fire has grown to about 185 square kilometres. But an evacuation alert that had been put in place for residents affected by the Community Lake Plateau wildfire, also near Kamloops, has been partly rescinded after that fire calmed down overnight.

At a time of year that typically marks the end of British Columbia's fire season, hot and dry conditions in large parts of the province are making the fire risk as precarious as ever. While crews continue to make progress, and fewer new fires started over the weekend, Steinbart cautioned that hot, dry weather forecasted for at least the next 10 days appears to offer little relief.

"We usually start to see night temperatures cool down considerably, and it's not uncommon to have frost at this time of year in some areas," Steinbart said in an interview Sunday. "We're just not seeing that at this point, and we're not getting the recoveries that we normally see overnight. We're still where we were at the end of July."

EDIT

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/688925