VANCOUVER, British Columbia (NEWSnet/AP) — Canadian firefighters made progress against some blazes in a British Columbia region known for picturesque towns, but hundreds more fires across the province have pushed thousands from their homes.

Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year in a scenario that has also caused choking smoke in parts of the U.S.

Throughout the spring and summer, there have been more than 5,700 fires, burning more than 53,000 square miles from one end of Canada to the other, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. That includes on Sunday, when hundreds of fires continued to rage across British Columbia and 35,000 people were under evacuation orders.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the approval of British Columbia’s request for federal assistance.

There’s “finally a bit of a glimmer of hope,” West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Broland told a news conference of the progress made Sunday in the Lake Okanagan region, which is known as a summer destination for families.

But Broland conceded that “some may be coming back to nothing” when evacuees are allowed to return.

More than 1,200 miles away, a fire remained about nine miles from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories. The city was left virtually empty after nearly all of its 20,000 residents fled for safety.

And, in Hay River, evacuees could be looking at weeks before they can return home, Mayor Kandis Jameson said Sunday to his 3,800 residents

Among those who fled as flames threatened their homes in British Columbia was Todd Ramsay. He recalled sitting on his deck in Kelowna’s North Clifton area watching the fire rage on the other side of Lake Okanagan, about 1.5 miles away. Then flames started to jump the lake.

“Sure enough, it started raining pine cones and tree bark,” he said.

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