VANCOUVER Hundreds of residents northwest of Kamloops, B.C., have been asked to be ready to leave their homes at a moment s notice due to the Sparks Lake wildfire, which has grown to an estimated 40 square kilometres since Monday. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District issued new evacuation alerts Wednesday afternoon for 298 properties in the Loon Lake and Hiham Lake areas. That was on top of 150 properties already impacted in the Deadman, Red Lake, Tranquille Valley & and Vidette Lake areas. More than 25 properties near Red Lake have been ordered to evacuate, up from nine on Tuesday. And as of Wednesday afternoon, 56 firefighters and 10 helicopters were fighting the flames.