7 Aug 2010

Hundreds of wildfires in British Columbia

5:58 pm on 7 August 2010

More than 400 wildfires are burning in British Columbia, Canada.

About 250 firefighters from Ontario, Alberta and the US state of Washington have been sent to the province to help.

State officials say they have surpassed their annual forest firefighting budget.

Most of the fires started at the end of July and more than 70 started within the last three days, according to the Wildfire Management Branch.

A water-bomber plane fighting forest fires in British Columbia crashed last week, killing the two pilots and igniting another fire.

The BBC reports emergency teams have responded to 1272 wildfires in BC since 1 April.