VANCOUVER - More than 240 wildfires have broken out in B.C. in the past 48 hours and there's no end in sight to the hot, dry conditions that spawned the blazes.

Provincial Fire Information Officer Kim Steinbart says most of the fires have been sparked in the central Interior and most have been caused by lightning.

She says the weather pattern across much of the Cariboo and Kamloops fire centres includes warm, dry mornings changing to afternoon thundershowers or dry lightning -- conditions that aren't expected to end for several days.

Hundreds of fires are burning across B.C. with evacuation orders still in place for two of the blazes — one around a portion of Bonaparte Lake north of Kamloops and the other at the Meldrum Creek fire near Williams Lake.

Several evacuation alerts are also posted and the forest service reports some of the fires, such as the Alexis Creek blaze, 86 kilometres west of Williams Lake, are very aggressive, while others, such as the Yalakom fire near Lillooet, also continue to grow.

A campfire ban is in place across all but a small corner of southeastern B.C., with violators facing fines of 345-dollars if caught beside an open fire — and they could be forced to pay the costs of fighting any wildfire caused by their negligence.

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