Firefighters are busy battling several major blazes in B.C.'s Interior, and provincial officials say with dry lightning — thunderstorms without rain — in the forecast it's a good time for people to take extra precautions.

Effective Tuesday morning, an open-fire ban is in place for the southeast of the province, as well as the coastal, Cariboo and Kamloops regions. Campfires are still permitted in all areas.

A wildfire burns near the community of Slocan, in the southeastern Interior of B.C. Monday.
(CBC)

As of Tuesday evening, 17 homes remain on evacuation alert near two fires in the Kootenays, as wildfires in the southeastern region of the province grow.

Thirteen homes are threatened in the Slocan Valley, where the Springer Creek fire is about one kilometre away, and another four homes have been placed on evacuation alert in the rural community of Argenta, on the east shore of Kootenay Lake.

There's nothing that can be done about lightning-caused fires but they are a good reminder that action can be taken on fires caused by people, Radha Fisher, a fire information officer, said on Tuesday.

Fisher said the forecast for this coming long weekend is a hot and dry one, heightening the risk of wildfires.

"We are busy already, please be extra cautious with [your] fire use this weekend," she said.

Fisher said B.C. firefighters sent to help out with wildfires in Manitoba last week are being recalled to help with the situation in their own province.

Meanwhile, firefighters and helicopters are busy battling the Sitkum Creek fire, north of Nelson, which is more than 900 hectares and producing a lot of smoke. No homes or infrastructure are threatened.

Caution urged to prevent wildfires

Fire officials in southeastern B.C. are urging people to be careful as well.

"There isn't any rain in the immediate forecast, which for us is a little worrisome, because we are looking at the fire danger and it's high to extreme throughout the southeast fire centre," said fire information officer Corwin Odland on Monday in Castlegar.

Temperatures are soaring to around 35 C in the southeastern Interior, and the forests are getting drier by the day.

One of the biggest concerns is human activity, Odland said.

Even parking a car in tall grass could ignite a fire from an exhaust pipe's heat, and there are other seemingly harmless activities that could set forests ablaze, Odland said.

"One issue that has come up lately is people who are cutting firewood. It's dry enough now that even people using a chainsaw or any equipment in the woods can start a fire, so we're just asking the public to be extremely cautious."