VANCOUVER (CP) -- Lightning lit up B.C.'s forests overnight, sparking fires so intense crews can't get near many of them.
Seventy blazes were ignited during the weekend, with 40 of them kicking up smoke in the eastern Fraser Valley.
One is near the famous Hell's Gate Tram tourist attraction.
Crews are planning from the air how to tackle the smoky blaze burning about 1,200 metres up the mountain.
The other concern for provincial fire crews is the Whitecap fire outside Lillooet, 180 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
``Overnight, it grew considerably, spreading a full kilometre. We're looking at approximately 1,300 hectares,'' said fire information officer Tim Neal.
``It's fairly smoky in there,'' he said. ``This fire is so extreme we can't put crews in front of it and we haven't even been able to get crews on the ground to see what's going on.''
The terrain is extremely steep and there is no road access, he said.
The blaze is now four kilometres from the nearest homes.
About 200 people in the Seton Lake area have been told to have their bags packed and ready by the door.
The blaze has unleashed an ominous cloud of smoke visible from a number of surrounding areas.
``We're on alert for evacuation,'' said Frank Richings, manager of the Seton Motel and volunteer fire chief for the community, told The Vancouver Sun.
At a town meeting Sunday morning in the Seton school, 100 residents gathered to hear from provincial emergency and forestry officials on the status of the blaze.
A total of 162 homes, businesses and other structures are currently under threat.
Fire information officer Kevin Matuga said the terrain - where cliffs rise 1,800 to 2,400 metres from the valley floor - is steep and almost completely inaccessible to ground crews.
``We've had to put most of resources onto the fire from the air,'' Matuga told The Vancouver Sun.
As of Sunday morning, 50 firefighters were battling the blaze from the ground with helicopters for air-attack. Matuga said those numbers were likely to increase if the fire progressed towards town.
Richings said the fire's increasing proximity is creating tension among townspeople.
``We're starting to get a lot more smoke showing which looks real close to us and that's why it panics people,'' he said. ``And if you go up on the hill behind us, you can actually start spotting flames over the ridge where it's happening.''
Richings said this is the first time Seton Portage has been on evacuation alert, although the surrounding area has seen several serious forest fires in recent years.
Officials with the Seton First Nation are assisting government emergency crews in the evacuation. Ken McDonald of Indian and Northern Affairs said about half the band's population of 596 was affected by the evacuation notice.
The B.C. Forest Service says the weather across the province is expected to be hot, sunny and dry for the next week and in some areas temperatures are forecast to be eight to 10 degrees above seasonal
The situation sounds grim, but on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the dramatic blaze that exploded into the Interior city of Kelowna, fire fighters say this summer has been a comparative cake walk.
There are currently 277 fires burning in the province. Most will follow a natural course and die out without emergency crews having to get involved. Firefighters are working on 94 blazes that are more aggressive.
``We aren't having nearly as much dry lightning activity as we had last year,'' said Neal.
``And the public is more aware, people are being more careful and that helps.''
A year ago Monday, lightning strikes hit Squally Point on Okanagan Lake and sparked one of B.C.'s most destructive forest fires.
By the time the flames had roared through Okanagan Mountain Park and into Kelowna, 244 homes had been destroyed and thousands of people had to be evacuated.
