Rising humidity and mild winds in the wake of a late weekend storm made for a calmer day on the fire front Monday, a fire information officer said.

“This is good firefighting weather,” said Michaela Swan.

The thunderstorm moved through the region Sunday evening, with 11 new blazes sparked in the Kamloops region by lightning. Swan said the fires burned to about a hectare each and are in the mop-up stage.

She said the muggy fallout from the storm helped crews gain ground on the Mayson Lake fire north of Barriere, which is 100 per cent guarded and 50 per cent contained.

The blaze remains at 130 hectares and an evacuation order for the east side of Bonaparte Lake has been downgraded to an alert.

The Jade fire burning in the Yalakom Valley near Lillooet grew to about 1,500 hectares Monday, with crews seeing growth in the steep and inaccessible mountain terrain, said Swan.

About 250 firefighters and fire specialists from Alberta and Ontario arrived in B.C. on Sunday, joining hundreds of firefighters already on the ground, said Swan.

As of Monday, there were more than 350 fires burning across B.C.

Since April 1, there have been 1,100 wildfires that have scorched nearly 6,000 square kilometres, according to the forest ministry. People have caused nearly half.

A campfire ban is in place across much of the province.

Merritt
A Merritt Fire Zone representative says the haze surrounding the city Friday is the result of drifting smoke from forest fires in other parts of the province.

The haze and accompanying smoky smell blanketed Merritt and obscured the surrounding mountains Friday morning, lingering into the afternoon.

Kim Janowsky, forest protection officer for the B.C. Forest Service's Merritt Fire Zone, confirmed Friday afternoon that wildfires caused the smoke and smell.

Lytton
A fire near Jackass Mountain south of Lytton has claimed the lives of two men after the water bomber they were flying crashed. Deceased are pilot Tom Whiting, 58, from Surrey and his co-pilot Brian Tiley, 36, of Edmonton.

The plane, owned by Conair of Abbotsford, went down on Saturday evening, July 31, erupting into flames and starting a new fire. Because of the intensity of the fire, rescuers were unable to access the remote site until the next afternoon.

Lillooet
A helicopter owned by Transwest Helicopters has crashed while fighting the Jade Mine fire in the Yalakom Valley.

According to a Transwest press release, both the pilot in command, a highly experienced male aged 61 from Vernon B.C., and his male co-pilot, aged 27 from Abbotsford B.C., are alive, but the extent of their injuries is not known at this time.

However, both were conscious at the time they were extracted from the helicopter.

Kamloops
As the Kamloops Fire Centre's battle against the growing Yalakom Valley fire entered its second week, another wildfire erupted in Kamloops itself last Tuesday night.

Michaela Swan, a fire information officer at the Kamloops Fire Centre, said Wednesday afternoon, “We were called to assist the Kamloops Fire and Rescue Department just before 10 last night.”

The fire, located on Todd Road in Barnhartvale, grew from one hectare Tuesday to 53 hectares as of Wednesday afternoon.