Notch Hill fire spurs evacuations near Salmon Arm

About 160 residents living near the southern Interior town of Salmon Arm, B.C., have been forced out of their homes after a fire sparked by a lightning storm last week was blown up by gusty winds.

On Monday afternoon, emergency officials issued the evacuation order for the residents around the Notch Hill and Tappen-Notch Hill Road areas as winds gusted up to 40 kilometres per hour.

The Notch Hill fire, discovered on Friday, covered 480 hectares and was only 40 per cent contained by Monday. Nearby, an evacuation alert remained in place for residents of the Skimikin Valley.

In the Cariboo fire district, about 50 homes west of Clinton remained evacuated because the 110-square-kilometre Kelly Creek forest fire was still uncontained.

Gusty winds on Monday also fanned the Lava Canyon fire west of Williams Lake in the central Interior and that 317 square kilometre fire remained uncontained. Dozens of other fires continue to burn across B.C. in one of the worst fire seasons in years.