The BC Wildfire Service is urging extreme caution over long weekend when it comes to the risk of wildfires.

Director of fire centre operations Rob Schweitzer says there were 244 active wildfires already burning as of Thursday afternoon.

“Severe burning conditions will be seen in the south half of the province, and there will be overnight burning on these incidents. And then come Saturday and Sunday, we anticipate a bit of a shift in the weather. While this has been a relatively stable week for the weather, we see some instability in the forecast.”

Schweitzer says that unstable weather will bring rain, lightning, and cooler weather to some areas of the Interior.

“With lightning in the forecast, we cannot afford any human caused wildfires this weekend,” he says. “Be extremely cautious over this BC Day long weekend. People intending to travel anywhere in the province should first check for road closures, evacuation orders, evacuation alerts, and other prohibitions such as rec sites that may be closed or BC Parks closures.

“(People) should not travel to any area that is subject to an evacuation alert or order.”

All of southern B.C. has a fire danger rating of high to extreme, according to the BC Wildfire Service. That’s as the southern half of the province has been mired in a drought for the past several months.

A heat warning is also in place for much of southern and central B.C.