Residents evacuated in path of British Columbia wildfire

KAMLOOPS, British Columbia (AP) Just hours after a massive wildfire forced the British Columbia government to declare a state of emergency Friday in the Thompson-Nicola regional district, a new blaze erupted on a mountain visible from downtown Kamloops.

People living in several residential areas near Kamloops, including the suburb of Rayleigh, were told to evacuate.

``Most people in Kamloops can see this fire,'' said Glen Plummer, a spokesman for the provincial emergency program. <

Plummer couldn't say how many people were affected by the latest evacuation notice. <

Kamloops is in southcentral British Columbia.

Approximately 3,500 people living in the surrounding area had already fled to Kamloops from their homes because of a massive fire that began in the McLure area, about 25 miles north of Kamloops, on Wednesday and rapidly spread north to neighboring Barriere.<

That blaze was estimated to be 16 square miles earlier on Friday.<

Premier Gordon Campbell said the state of emergency was aimed at helping crews fighting fires in McLure and surrounding areas, and to ensure a coordinated response to evacuating residents threatened by the expanding wildfire.<

``This is the worst situation we've had and the driest circumstances that we've measured in the last 50 years,'' said Campbell in an interview. ``In all likelihood British Columbians have never lived through a drier forest situation than we are living through this summer.''<

The McLure area fire has forced the evacuation of residents in McLure, Louis Creek and Barriere, and closed a portion of Highway 5.

The fire apparently was started Wednesday by a discarded cigarette, fire information officer Kevin Matuga said. Fanned by high winds, it exploded Thursday night.

The blaze was too hot for firefighters to approach, especially ``with the kind of volatile situation we're seeing right now, the ever-changing and shifting winds,'' Matuga said.

Ash from the fire was raining onto Barriere.

Before the evacuation of Barriere, resident Donald Campbell said the town was choked with smoke snaking over a hill. ``You can't see half a block across the street right now because of the smoke.''

Campbell said he was ready for the evacuation.

``I got my razor and my toothbrush and that's all I'm taking. I travel light,'' he said. ``Oh and my cigarettes too.''

B.C. Forest Service spokesman Steve Bachop said power was out in and around McLure, the Yellowhead Highway was shut down, and the CN Railway line had been closed.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)