Prince George, B.C-There are 57 fires  burning in the  Prince George Fire Centre,  and most are in the Peace region.There were 8 new fires yesterday “We are nearly twice the number fires we responded to  at this time last year,  and nearly 20 times the amount of hectares burned” says Kevin Skrepnek, Chief Fire Information Officer for  B.C.

While much of the province will be seeing some cooler wet weather,  such is not the case in the Peace  “Sustained and gusty winds are expected today,  albeit it will be a little cooler,  but we anticipate it will be another challenging  day  for those who are fighting  fires in the Peace region.”

Skrepnek says B.C. has  assured  Alberta  it will assist in whatever way it can,  “We are going to remain in close contact with Alberta, continue to  evaluate  our resources and needs to see what we can make available.”  He says  some equipment is already on the way to Alberta.

Skrepnek says there is a high likelihood the Siphon Creek fire will cross the border into Alberta, but BC  will continue to battle the blaze in an effort to  assist  Alberta firefighters so they can focus on  the Fort McMurray  blaze.

There are five evacuation alerts in place impacting 325 homes , all in the Peace Region,  says Ian Lightbody of Emergency Management B.C , “Siphon Creek, Beaton Airport Road,  Blueberry River First Nation, Clearview and Doig River are all on  evacuation alert.”

Nearly all of the 200 fires the BC Wildfire Service has responded to  since the fire season  started   were  human caused only four were sparked by  lightning.