Thirty fire specialists from Australia and New Zealand are on their way to B.C. to help fight some of the roughly 700 wildfires raging here, including one that’s threatening Lillooet.
Thousands of British Columbians are living in hotels, schools, churches or with friends as fires, fuelled by high tempera-tures and winds, burn through the province’s tinder-dry forests.
Pat Bell, minister of Forests and Range, said the fight to contain the wildfires has stretched the province’s fire resources to their limits.
At Mount McLean, fire crews are scrambling to contain a 3,300-hectare forest fire that’s one kilometre away from Lillooet.
Fire information officer Jeremiah Louis said the Mount McLean fire was “zero per cent contained.”
“They’re still working on containment lines with heavy machinery and they have helicopters doing bucket support on any terrain that’s too steep for ground crews.”
