No respite for tens of thousands of Canadians who fled wildfires

Tens of thousands of Canadians who fled wildfires were unable to return home Tuesday as the massive blazes raged on.

Officials said that 159 fires were still burning, 60 of them out of control, in the western province of British Columbia, where the flames have already consumed 188,000 hectares (464,500 acres) of forest and uncultivated land.

Although small numbers of people have been able to return to their homes, around 40,000 people remain displaced by the inferno.

Some 1,000 residents of Cache Creek, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Kamloops, who had been evacuated 11 days ago were able to return home, but under warning they may have to flee again at short notice.

"Residents need to be reminded that the village of Cache Creek remains on evacuation alert," local authorities said in a statement. "While the Ashcroft fire continues to remain active, residents must be prepared to leave at any time."

In Kamloops itself, a town of 350,000 people some 350 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, volunteers and emergency services were preparing to receive thousands of evacuees.

Food and water were being handed out underneath canvas awnings, while evacuees were offered counseling or help filling out compensation forms.

Hundreds of camp beds were set up in a large sports hall for the displaced, some of whom were arriving from as far away as Williams Lake, 300 kilometers to the northwest.

Around 3,000 firefighters and 200 helicopters and fire-fighting planes are battling the blaze, with reinforcements due to arrive from other parts of the country.

On the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, the fires forced the partial closure of some of Canada's most prized national parks, such as Banff in the province of Alberta, which is visited by some four million tourists every year.

Like California far to the south, British Columbia, on the Canada's Pacific coast and bordering the US, is prone to forest fires. But this year's fires are close in scale to those of 2003 when more than 50,000 people had to flee their homes.

California itself has suffered widespread fires in recent days, with a lighting strike near Yosemite National Park sparking a blaze that destroyed more than 26 square kilometers (10 square miles) of forest.