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Smoke rises from trees burned by wildfire on a mountain near Ashcroft, B.C., on July 10, 2017.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press

Colton Barrett and Micah Witherbee return to camp as sunset falls over Cache Creek, turning the large plumes of smoke over the hills a radiant, if menacing, shade of pink.

The Alberta firefighters spent the day fighting the Elephant Hill fire, a volatile blaze that has consumed more than 52,000 hectares in B.C.'s Interior, forcing people from their homes.

As a unit crew leader, Mr. Barrett, 26, scouted out areas in advance, assigning crews accordingly; as a helitack crew member, Mr. Witherbee, 23, extinguished burning materials near control lines. Their faces and yellow uniforms are covered in dirt.

"This is probably the cleanest I've been, actually," Mr. Barrett says with a laugh. "I just changed my uniform today."

Mr. Barrett and Mr. Witherbee are among about 500 personnel flown in from outside B.C. to help the province's 2,500 firefighters, contractors and support staff fight wildfires burning across the province.

These are the people working 14-hour days, spending weeks away from their families and being devoured by insects on the front lines to battle the annual catastrophe of summer wildfires.

In their short downtime, firefighters stay at fire camps; in Mr. Barrett and Mr. Witherbee's case, an elementary school field with kitchen and shower trailers, a couple of large dining tents and about 100 camping tents.

Returning after long days, firefighters usually grab some dinner – often calorie-heavy meals of pasta, meat and vegetables to keep their energy up – shower and crash. Those with a little energy left socialize, play cards or listen to music.

On Tuesday, an evacuation order was lifted for the village of Cache Creek and hundreds of residents returned home to find the small community intact. As vehicles entered single file, residents waved and honked at first responders, gave them the thumbs up and shouted their gratitude.

Jason Kipp and Brandi Burns, both with the BC Wildfire Service, said days like that are the best part of the job.

"Yes, we also put fires out in the middle of nowhere, and those are important too, but these are the moments that you take the most pride in," said Mr. Kipp, a unit crew supervisor. "That's the best. It keeps you motivated and makes you work that much harder."

"Any opportunity you have where you're supporting a community and protecting structures and things of meaning for people, it means your hard work has paid off," said Ms. Burns, a forest-protection technician and safety and staff development co-ordinator.

The Alberta firefighters recalled a similar reception in Fort McMurray after the wildfire that burned for two months in the spring of 2016 and devastated the community.

"In Fort McMurray, they had a big Canada flag up and the fire department welcoming people back," Mr. Kipp said.

"Yeah, that always makes it worthwhile," Mr. Witherbee said. "I've worked all kinds of jobs and this is the best job I've had by far."

Stressors come when the lives of colleagues – more often called family – are on the line, they say.

"Being a supervisor of 19, 20 other people – if something bad happened to them based on something that I told them to do, because of my leadership failing, that would be my biggest [worry]," Mr. Barrett said.

Added Ms. Burns: "Whenever you're supervising people, or responsible for an area of the fire, that level of stress – the mental taxation just skyrockets."

Fire crews from Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick are already in the province, and about 50 Australian wildfire personnel arrived on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the B.C. government announced that Ottawa will send an additional 225 Canadian Armed Forces members, mainly to assist with road checks in key access points in the Interior, freeing local police for other duties. There were already 150 military members in the province supporting the emergency effort.

B.C. currently has 140 wildfires burning, including 15 that are threats to communities. Nearly 46,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes.

Residents of an area on the outskirts of Penticton, in B.C.'s Okanagan, have joined the thousands who had to get out at a moment's notice.

A fire broke out Thursday morning in the West Bench suburb and first responders swiftly evacuated homes threatened by the flames, said Peter Weeber, chief administrative officer for the city.

"There were a couple homes impacted, just roofs at this point. We haven't lost any structures from what I understand," he said.

Officials did not have an exact number of residents who were forced to flee, but Mark Woods of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen said at least two or three streets were evacuated.

The district said on Thursday afternoon that the fire appeared contained.

Officials in the Cariboo Regional District, one of the areas hardest-hit, said on Wednesday that 41 homes had been lost.

Another eight were confirmed lost in the Central Okanagan region last weekend, and almost three dozen trailers were destroyed when fire raced through the Boston Flats trailer park next to Cache Creek.

This year's fire season has scorched a larger area of the province than any other in the past decade. As of Thursday, the BC Wildfire Service said about 410,000 hectares have burned since April 1, although almost all of that is in the month of July. In just five days, the damage more than tripled, from 132,000 hectares last Saturday.

There were 690 fires reported so far this season, as of Thursday, including 425 fires since the beginning of July.

John Horgan was sworn in Tuesday as the first New Democrat to lead British Columbia in 16 years. The new premier says the wildfire evacuations embody the challenges ahead.

The Canadian Press

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