WATCH: Heather Rice, information officer for Gustafsen wildfire near 100 Mile House, explains how firefighters battle certain kinds of fires:
Wildfires in B.C. have set a rapid pace this weekend – most due to lightning and increasing temperatures.
Here’s a few quick facts about the 2017 wildfire season to date:
Total number of fires: 463
Total number of fires since Friday: 183
Notable fires as of Saturday, July 8: Princeton, 100 Mile House, Ashcroft, Williams Lake, Quesnel, Little Fort
#BCWildfires:#Ashcroft: 4,200#100MileHouse: 3,200#Princeton: 1,500#Quesnel: 1,500#WilliamsLake: 100+2,000+2,500#LittleFort: 120+300 https://t.co/6aYr73sLh5
— Ashley Wadhwani (@ashwadhwani) July 9, 2017
Number of evacuation orders as of Saturday, July 8: Cache Creek, 108 Mile House and area, 150 Mile House, Little Fort and part sof Williams Lake are under evacuation orders. Parts of Ashcroft and Williams Lake are on an evacuation alert
Firefighters currently battling blazes: 1,000, supported by heavy equipment and helicopters. An additional 600 personnel were backing them up, plus another 200 contractors. Another 260 firefighters are coming from other parts of Canada.
Total area burned: About 113 square kilometres, or 11,300 hectares – that’s about 18,225 football fields (if each field was .62 hectares in size)
With files from The Canadian Press.
Cache Creek on Saturday, July 8 (Twitter - Cst. Julien Ponsioen)