KAMLOOPS, B.C. - British Columbia Premier John Horgan and Forests Minister Doug Donaldson visited several Interior cities and towns as firefighters continue to battle scores of wildfires around the province.
Horgan and Donaldson were set to visit Kamloops, Cache Creek, Ashcroft and Kelowna, where a wildfire that broke out Thursday was keeping hundreds of residents out of their homes.
The Central Okanagan Regional District says the fire is 20 per cent contained and has charred just under five square kilometres of bush and trees in the Joe Rich community, about 25 kilometres east of Kelowna.
Evacuation orders for about 600 people were reduced to alerts on Sunday, but orders covering just over 200 properties remained in effect and Highway 33 through the fire zone was closed.
The wildfire service website shows seven new fires were sparked over a 24-hour period on Sunday, with two believed to have been caused by human activity, two by lightning and three under investigation.
One of those was about 13 kilometres east of Squamish, along the Mamquam River, and although it was small, the wildfire service says more crews and equipment were due to be assigned to contain and extinguish it.
