It's the middle of winter, and more than 100 wildfires are still smouldering

After a gruelling eight months battling wildfires in British Columbia, Sonja Leverkus was looking forward to a break.

But with many fires still smoldering, she worries it won’t be long until she’s fighting flames again.

“It still feels like we haven’t had enough time to get recovered, let alone get ready, because here we go again,” said Leverkus, a wildland firefighter crew leader who lives in Fort Nelson, B.C.

There are still 92 active fires in British Columbia and another 54 in Alberta — holdovers from last year — according to the latest figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Others are also active