A day after B.C.'s premier said a destructive wildfire near Rock Creek may have been caused by a cigarette, the RCMP are looking into a drone that slowed down efforts to get two of the province's other large blazes under control.

The B.C. Wildfire Service said in a statement Monday that an unmanned aerial vehicle flying over the Testalinden Creek and Wilsons Mountain Road wildfires on Sunday "posed a significant risk to personnel," forcing eight fire-fighting helicopters and five planes to land.

The fire service noted it is illegal to fly within five nautical miles around wildfires and up to 3,000 feet above ground level.

Meanwhile, in Rock Creek, residents who lost their homes to a wildfire over the weekend were being driven through the area Monday to survey the damage, according to Alan Stanley of the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary. Thirty homes were destroyed over the weekend, along with about a dozen other buildings.

"The fire burned everything around me," said Rock Creek resident Fay Flynn. "The mobile home right next door is burnt to the ground and the flames came six inches (15 centimetres) from my home."

Other residents said they lost more than just their house.

Bruce Allison, the son-in-law of local property owners, visited his in-laws' charred home on Monday to clear away the remains of the family's livestock.

"We drove up and the sheep were dead," Allison told CTV Vancouver. "We just want to get in and clean it up a bit so that when the family does come back, it's a bit less shocking."

Rescuers in the area are also struggling to deal with the blaze and its impact on the local community.

"It's absolutely challenging not only for the community but also for our crews that take such pride in their work," said Mike McCulley, an information officer with the B.C. Forest Service. "They are very heavily impacted."

Stanley told CTV News Channel that the Rock Creek fire, which started Thursday and engulfed more than 38 square kilometres, moved so quickly that some campers had to flee wearing only their bathing suits.

On Sunday, some of those campers were allowed to return to the area to collect their belongings.

"(When the fire came) we both though that was it," said Tracey Bennett, who was camping in the area on the weekend. "We had our children with us so it was … scary."

B.C. Wildlife Service information officer Kevin Skrepnek said that the Rock Creek fire is thought to have been caused by humans.

"There wasn't any lightning in that area that would have provided ignition," he said.

Skrepnek said about 1,100 of the roughly 1,650 fires started in the province during this busier-than-usual fire season have been caused by dry, hot weather and lightning.

"But the last thing we want to be concerned with is a preventable, human-caused fire," he added.

B.C. Premier Christy Clark surveyed the damage near Rock Creek on Sunday and mulled stiffer penalties for those who cause wildfires.

"If you are found to have been throwing a cigarette butt out of your car, perhaps one of the penalties available should be that we should be able to take away the use of your car for a period of time," she said.

An evacuation order for those affected by the Testalinden Creek Fire was downgraded to an evacuation alert on Monday afternoon. Evacuation orders remain in effect for the Wilsons Mountain and Rock Creek areas.

With files from CTV Vancouver