British Columbia Forest Fires Ten Times Size Of Last Year's

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ANAHIM LAKE -- "Forest fires have exploded across the province this summer, consuming more than 10 times as much land as at this time during last year's devastating fire season.

As of Monday afternoon, provincial fire officials were tracking 373 fires that had torched 149,080 hectares of the province, or more than half the total number of hectares burned in all of last year. The area now burning is more than 370 times the size of Stanley Park. At this time last year, only 156 fires were burning on 11,297 hectares of land. And with forecasts of hot, dry weather, the situation could get dramatically worse.

Over the weekend one of B.C.'s most famous homesteads went up in smoke in what has become the province's largest forest fire. The Ralph Edwards homestead at Lonesome Lake, in Tweedsmuir Provincial Park southwest of this Central Interior ranching community, was totally destroyed. The fire had raged unchecked since it was started by lightning June 21.

The fire, which blossomed from 600 hectares Friday to more than 3,700 on Monday, has left the forest service scrambling for help. It was originally left unchecked because of its remote location, but now the fire threatens the vacation community of Charlotte Lake, which was placed under an evacuation order late Monday."

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