The wildfire raging near Tyaughton Lake, west of Lillooet, has doubled in size, prompting new evacuations in the Tyax resort and dozens of nearby cabins.

The fire has grown to about 1,500 hectares, roughly four times the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park.

It was believed parts of the blaze would be contained when the normally strong winds subsided Wednesday afternoon, but flames started advancing as gusty winds picked up later in the day.

It is believed the fire started late on Friday night - almost six days ago - by a careless camper.

Eight air tankers have been dumping thousands of litres of water and fire suppressant onto the blaze, but officials say it is only around 15 per cent contained. Firefighters are concentrating their efforts on the southeastern edge of the Coast Range Mountains

Residents in the nearby communities of Gold Bridge, Bralome and Gun Lake remain on evacuation alert. Even several kilometres from the fire line, residents say they aren't taking any chances -- and are hosing down their cabins.

"Lots of family history here and lots of really good family friends here and we consider it our home," Gun Lake resident Melanie Bitner said.

Gun Lake resident Clinton Pazdzierski said he is focusing on cleaning up the area around his property so the fire won't be fueled by any extra debris.

"Our goal is to try to keep everything as wet as possible," he said. "Clean up as much as we can."

A province on high alert

The forest fire risk in Metro Vancouver parks, including Stanley and Pacific Spirit Parks, was raised to high Wednesday. The extreme heat is drying out the forest underbrush -- making it dry much earlier than normal.

The fire department is asking people to not smoke in parks because even the smallest spark could set a huge fire.

Dry weather has seen the number of fires in the province jump dramatically -- from 280 in 2008 to 368 this year -- and Fire Information Officer Kim Steinbart says most of them are caused by people.

A 24-hour public information line is available at 1-866-417-4132, and road closure information is availble at 1-800-550-4997.