Hot days spark fire worries

Beware the 30-30 threat. That dreaded combo — more than 30 C, less than 30-per-cent humidity — has fire officials on edge after a record-breaking weekend.

Squamish, Port Alberni and Agassiz hit record temperatures Sunday as fire officials warned the public about tinder-dry conditions on the upcoming holiday weekend.

Ashcroft topped the nation at 31.4 C as more than 80 people were put on fire-evacuation alert near Lillooet.

Five choppers and 41 firefighters battled the stubborn 140-hectare Pavilion Lake blaze that as of Sunday night was 85-per-cent contained.

A wet, dry spring has given way to hot, dry temperatures, with high-risk fire zones centred in the Kamloops and Prince George areas.

“It’s tinder-dry out there,” said Kayla Pepper of the Kamloops Fire Centre. Pepper said humans have caused all the fires in her region to date, and the Kamloops’ fire zone will be under an outdoor-burning ban by Tuesday.

Sunny skies are expected to prevail across southern B.C. for the next few days, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Greg Pearce. Onshore winds will begin to blow and bring temperatures to seasonal averages Tuesday, Pearce said.

Meanwhile, a high streamflow advisory for the southern Interior issued by the B.C. Rivers Forecast Centre on Thursday morning is still in effect, but the threat of flooding is diminishing.