KAMLOOPS, B.C. - Two wildfires are raging in British Columbia's southern Interior as the 2018 wildfire season makes an aggressive start.
The BC Wildfire Service says the larger of the two fires covers eight square kilometres of bush about 55 kilometres northwest of Kamloops and is burning out of control, but isn't threatening any homes or structures.
The other out-of-control blaze has scorched about three-square kilometres of timber on the steep side of Anderson Lake, west of Lillooet.
Two properties along the narrow and twisting Highline Road have been ordered evacuated and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District has issued evacuation alerts for almost 30 other addresses.
Separate 45-person crews are battling each blaze, backed by air support and heavy equipment and the causes of the fires remain under investigation.
Just over 200 fires have been recorded since the wildfire season began on April 1 and the wildfire service website shows the fire risk for most of B.C. is now rated moderate to high, with several parts of the province, including a large area in the northeast corner, rated at extreme risk.
A number of blazes larger than 10-square kilometres are burning north of Fort St. John and west of Fort Nelson but are not threatening any structures.
The wildfire service is making plans to fight some of those fires but says others, especially those within provincial parks, will be left to burn themselves out.
