VANCOUVER • Dozens of fires raged across western Canada and the US state of California yesterday, with little relief expected from a deadly heatwave that has seen temperatures hit record highs.

Around 1,000 people were evacuated in Canada's British Columbia province on Thursday when a wildfire burned down 90 per cent of a small town that had set a national high-temperature record for three days running.

Experts say the heatwave on "steroids" was brought on by the global climate change crisis and has caused several hundred deaths in Canada and the United States.

Lytton town, 250km north-east of Vancouver in British Columbia, "has sustained structural damage and 90 per cent of the village is burned, including the centre of town," local MP Brad Vis said.

In California, evacuation notices were issued for large swathes of a county where a large fire has engulfed nearly 8,094ha with less than 20 per cent contained as at yesterday, the authorities said.

The fire had been blazing for a week after it was ignited by a bolt of lightning, a government fire alert service said.

Footage from the area showed hills and forests ablaze and the sky filled with smoke as firefighters rushed to calm the flames.

A dozen different fires have been reported across California, which was hit by some of the worst wildfires in its history last year.

British Columbia has recorded 62 new fires in the past 24 hours, Premier John Horgan told a press conference. "I cannot stress enough how extreme the fire risk is at this time in almost every part of British Columbia," he said.

Lytton's 250 residents were evacuated on Wednesday evening, one day after it set a jaw-dropping Canadian record high temperature of 49.6 deg C. The evacuation order was extended on Wednesday night to residents of about 100 properties north of Lytton.

"The last 24 hours have been devastating for Lytton residents," Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan wrote on Twitter, adding that the Canadian Armed Forces "are ready to support residents as we move forward in the next steps".

Environment Canada, a government unit, said in a bulletin issued on Thursday morning that "an exceptionally strong ridge of high pressure over British Columbia will continue to bring record-breaking temperatures over the next couple of days".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE