WILLIAMS LAKE, BC — Lightning-triggered wildfires over the weekend have prompted a number of evacuation orders and alerts across B.C., a situation that has been exacerbated the ongoing heat wave. The B.C. Wildfire Service said Sunday that crews are battling more than 300 blazes, with several evacuation orders in effect in both Central and East Kootenay as well as in Thompson-Nicola, Cariboo and Bulkley — Nechako in the northwest. …A local state of emergency was declared on Sunday night in Williams Lake, where the River Valley wildfire is burning within city limits. An evacuation alert has been issued for properties from the intersection of Highway 20 and Mackenzie Avenue to the Jackpine Sawmill Access Road on Mackenzie Avenue near Atlantic Power’s Williams Lake plant. …In the Central Kootenay, the community of Silverton also remained on alert Sunday while 107 properties south of the village were under an evacuation order due to the nearby Aylwin Creek wildfire.