VANCOUVER, Canada (AP) – Firefighters battling wildfires in western Canada received reinforcements and warmer weather on Saturday after structures were destroyed, heavy smoke and evacuation orders for thousands of residents due to the worst claims season of this type on record.

The flames were contained 9 miles (15 kilometers) from Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, and exhausted firefighters took a break near Kelowna, British Columbia.

However, the firefighters are still far from claiming victory, in particular due to the forecast of drier and windier weather for the next few days.

“We haven’t gotten over the danger yet,” Yellowknife wildfire information officer Mike Westwick told The Associated Press. “We still have a serious situation. It’s not safe to go back.”

Yellowknife has become a virtual ghost town as most of its 20,000 residents began fleeing under an evacuation order issued Wednesday night, authorities said.

Vehicles formed long caravans that cluttered the main highway for days, and those who couldn’t leave by land lined up to board emergency planes that would take them out of town.

The last 39 patients who were in a hospital were evacuated by air on Friday evening aboard a Canadian Forces plane, officials said.

On Saturday, authorities said it was safe for now to leave Yellowknife by the only road available. Some 2,600 people were still in the city, including emergency personnel, firefighters, electricians and police, in addition to some residents who refused to leave.

Charlotte Morritt was among those who fled on Thursday due to unbearable smoke which she said could harm the health of her 4-month-old son.

Morritt, a reporter for the Indigenous Peoples Television Network, and her son took an evacuation flight about 950 miles (1,500 kilometers) west to safety in the city of Whitehorse, Yukon, but his partner stayed behind to watch over both of their belongings, help open the firewalls and fight the flames.

“We knew it was only a matter of time,” said Morritt, who tracks media updates and satellite imagery related to the spread of the flames.

Air tankers dropped water and retardant to prevent the fire from advancing towards Yellowknife. The excavations opened a 10 kilometer firebreak while firefighters deployed 20 kilometers (12 miles) of hose and numerous water pumps.

Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year, the choking smoke of which engulfed parts of the United States. In total, the fires number around 5,700 that have destroyed more than 137,000 square kilometers (53,000 square miles) across Canada, according to the Canadian Interagency Wildfire Center.

All of British Columbia was in a state of emergency on Saturday.

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Sharp reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press writers Andrea Thomas in Chicago and Martha Bellisle in Seattle contributed to this report.