B.C. wildfire tally surges past 100 due to lightning strikes

Lightning strikes the most responsible for sending the tally of blazes in the province past 100.

Just a few days ago, the province's firefighters faced only about 20 blazes in what had been a relatively quiet season, but as of Saturday morning there were about 115 fires burning, including about 77 started in the last 24 hours.

There are currently seven active wildfires burning across Northeast British Columbia. None of immediate concern in the Northern Rockies Municipality.

Two-thirds of the fires are burning out of control and most new blazes, orders and alerts are concentrated in the southern B.C. Interior.

But Attila Banhegyi remains unfazed after choosing to remain behind in his house in Boston Bar, B.C., near the Brunswick Creek fire with an area of 40 square kilometres and the Ainslie Creek fire with an area of 160 square kilometres.

The community of around 160 people in B.C.'s Fraser Canyon was ordered to evacuate on Thursday, but Banhegyi says he has remained behind out of "convenience and necessity" because he needs to look after his two businesses and animals, including 12 chickens.

He says the local restaurant and gas station are still open, as is the motel, which is housing the firefighting crews.

Banhegyi says he estimates that somewhere between 40 and 50 per cent of Boston Bar has remained behind.

"It depends on the person, but the people who have stayed behind are in good spirits," he says. 

The B.C. Wildfire Service has attributed the vast majority of the new fires to the 4,000 lightning strikes it says hit the province that day.

The eruption of fire activity has also seen an increase in evacuation orders and alerts. 

The most recent figures from B.C. Wildfire Service say about 575 properties across B.C. are subject to evacuation orders, with about 1,740 more on evacuation alert. It says about 399 people are receiving emergency support services.