**Much of British Columbia in western Canada remains on high alert as high temperatures and winds continue to stoke widespread forest fires.**Some 5,300 people have fled the latest fires as thousands of firefighters try to tackle the flames.
Some 800 extra personnel have been brought in from other parts of Canada to help exhausted fire crews.
Since April, more than 2,000 fires have burned 63,000 hectares (155,700 acres) in British Columbia, officials say.
“We’re crossing our fingers for rain but it looks like it will continue to be warm and dry,” British Columbia Fire Service spokeswoman Alyson Couch told the AFP news agency.
Ms Couch said the combination of hot weather and lightning had produced extreme conditions.
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“This is one of our most challenging years ever and it’s not over,” she said. August is traditionally a fire-prone month.
Some 2,300 people had to leave the town of Lillooet, some 213km (132 miles) north-east of Vancouver, as a fire burned on nearby Mount McLean.
Officials said on Monday there had been little progress in tackling a fire on Terrace Mountain near West Kelowna, AFP reported.
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