Wildfires continue to burn in British Columbia, Northwest Territories

Officials in western Canada are hoping to gain some ground on Sunday in their battle against raging forest fires. But hundreds of fires are still threatening communities throughout the region, with thousands of people forced out of their homes.

Officials are warning the worst of this wildfire crisis may not be over.

At last count, almost four hundred fires were burning in the forests of British Columbia, almost 160 of them out of control, many of them near communities like Kelowna.

Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate.

Nikki Goyer is one such evacuee, who drove out of the fire zone near Sorrento in the B.C. interior with her fiancé.

“Yeah, I was terrified. Right to the right, that is where we felt the most intense heat in the car,” Goyer recalled.

But, Goyer and her fiancé made it to safety.

READ MORE: Residents in B.C., Northwest Territories continue to evacuate due to wildfires

After ordering thousands of evacuations from cities like Kelowna, local officials say they were given a break on Sunday from high winds that were driving the fires.

Central Okanagan Regional District Chair Loyal Wooldridge said they have made progress on the fire.

“From our experts today you’ll hear that the weather has been cooperating with us and that we’ve been able to make progress overnight but we still have a long fight ahead of us,” Wooldridge said

And the strain is evident. Lake Country District Fire Department Chief Darren Lee choked up while delivering an update.

“Kind of wanted to start off by thanking, sorry… it’s been a long few days… I just want to congratulate all of our firefighters,” Lee said.

READ MORE: Canadian fire crews battle wildfires in Northwest Territories and British Columbia

British Columbia is under a state of emergency with fires burning throughout the province in what’s called the worst wildfire season in Canada’s history.

The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System shows almost 15 million hectares have been burned by wildfires this year, compared to less than five million in all of 2021.

And hundreds of fires are burning in the Northwest Territories, forcing the evacuation of 20,000 people from the capital, Yellowknife. Many of them left everything behind, except their pets.

Like B.C., the City of Yellowknife also got a break from the fires this weekend, but officials say the weather could change, fueling the fires.

There’s no word at this point on the total number of buildings and other property destroyed, but there are no reports of any loss of life.

So far, fire officials are leaving evacuation orders in place, waiting to see if the winds and the fires pick up again or how much progress they’ll be able to make fighting the fires.

A state of emergency remains in effect in British Columbia and people from Yellowknife are being told not to go home.