Williams Lake, B.C.-  Nine new wildfires were sparked in the Cariboo Fire Centre over the long weekend.Most of  the new fires were sparked by  lightning, but two were human caused. Luckily the fires were spotted quickly and  extinguished.

The largest lightning fire on the weekend covered about three hectares west of Anahim Lake. Airtankers, one helicopter and 19 firefighters responded and the fire was extinguished by Monday afternoon.

The six other lightning-caused fires were small and are all now out or in the patrol phase. Three of them were in the Big Bar area, one was southwest of Quesnel, one was near Pelican Lake and one was near Eagle Lake.

On Saturday, an initial attack crew put out a human-caused wildfire near Highway 20 in the Chilcotin. It covered about 0.1 hectares.

On Sunday, a second human-caused fire covered about 11 hectares northwest of Puntzi Lake. An initial attack crew and an additional 16 firefighters responded. The fire is currently in the patrol stage.

As of Monday morning, May 18, the Pelican Lake Fire was 100% contained and in the patrol stage.