Lillooet fire threatens homes

Fire crews battling a 600-hectare forest fire near Lillooet, B.C.have warned homeowners in the area to be prepared to leave their homes quickly.

The steep, rocky terrain in the Yalakom Valley is making it difficult for firefighters to contain the blaze that has been burning since Wednesday, Kayla Pepper, a fire information officer with B.C. Forest Services, told CBC News on Saturday morning.

"So far this morning, weather conditions have been fairly co-operative," Pepper said."Winds are light again and maybe throughout the day things are going to start heating up and with relative humidity coming down and temperatures going up, we might see more aggressive fire behaviour as the day goes on."

Eighty firefighters and seven helicopters are currentlybattling the fire, Pepper said, along with"14 structure protection-unit crew members setting up sprinkler systemsaround the nearest structures within the vicinity just to make sure that we [keep] the properties protected as well as we can. "