VANCOUVER -- After a slow start to the wildfire season in British Columbia, the situation in the province's Interior has escalated quickly in the last week.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 104 fires actively burning in British Columbia, with more than half of them (57) located in the province's Southeast Fire Centre.
Hot, dry weather, followed by lightning strikes, has led to the significant surge in fires. A total of 88 new blazes have been discovered over the last two days, and 73 of the 104 fires burning in the province as of Wednesday were believed to be caused by lightning.
The most significant of the fires burning in the province is the Christie Mountain fire, one of 18 burning in the Kamloops Fire Centre. As of Wednesday afternoon, the blaze had grown to 1,400 hectares and prompted evacuation alerts and orders affecting thousands of homes.
The cause of that fire was still unknown Wednesday.
The provincial government's interactive map of all fires currently burning in B.C. is embedded below.
