From people evacuated near Kelowna to a state of emergency declared in Port Hardy, a series of B.C. fires have residents on edge.

An 80-hectare grassfire outside of the City of Kelowna is now 50 per cent contained – but the flames haven’t been extinguished yet.

"We've got another hot Okanagan day, another windy Okanagan day and with that the fire can act up,” says Dale Bojahra, incident commander with the B.C. Wildfire branch. “We certainly saw that a little earlier...that’s why you see the air support above us as well.”

The blaze was discovered around 2:30 p.m. on Friday north of Highway 33, and within hours had triggered an evacuation order for all properties on Goudie Road, Jack Pine Road, Prather Road, Trapper Road and Boone Road – approximately 141 properties in all.

Forestry crews are concentrating on putting out the fire itself, while municipal crews are defending homes. The fire has come as close as 200 metres to some homes, but so far no properties have been destroyed.

Highway 33 re-opened to single lane traffic Saturday afternoon, and by evening the evacuation order was partially lifted for 114 properties. Residents living on 28 properties remain on evacuation order and can not yet return to their homes.

Officials believe the fire responsible for all the mayhem may have been caused by a cigarette tossed from a passing car.

This isn’t the only fire causing concern in B.C. – there are currently 66 active fires larger than 10 hecatres throughout the province.

A local state of emergency has been declared on Vancouver Island in the town of Port Hardy, and dozens of homes have been evacuated. Two separate fires in Nanaimo and Sechelt, though largely contained, are still active.

With files from CTV’s Kent Molgat