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The fire near Edzo is seen here near its peak, when the community was under an evacuation alert. - photo courtesy of Richard Leblanc

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - So far this year, the NWT has had 154 forest fires burn more than 192,921 hectares of land.

Judy McLinton, spokesperson for The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR), said the main difference this year is that communities and infrastructure have been threatened by fires.

These include the Edzo portion of Behchoko, cabins around Sandy Lake and the Snare Hydro plant.

She said a change in weather and persistent efforts by fire crews have protected the communities and properties at risk.

ENR is now scaling back most of its fire operations on the Edzo and Snare fires.

The Edzo fire, one of the largest this year, has consumed 71,000 hectares.

"Nothing is being threatened at this point," she said.

North Douglas, a resident of Edzo said "it's still a bit smoky, but the rain on Thursday helped a lot I think."

The fire near the Snare facility is now 68,000 hectares in size.

Francis Beaverho has lived in Whati for more than 30 years, he said the smoke was bad inside the community a week ago.

"But it's good now," Beaverho said. "We've had a couple days of rain and I think that's helped keep down the smoke."

McLinton said the fires near Edzo and the Snare Hydro facility will be monitored and they will continue to burn until a significant amount of rain falls in the area.

A fire near Sandy Lake, an area where many residents of Hay River and Fort Smith have cabins, has consumed some 42,000 hectares.

Mike Keizer is information officer for the joint command operations team working the Sandy Lake fire.

Resources from the NWT and Wood Buffalo National Park have combined their efforts to fight the blaze.

"They were doing great and then mother nature stepped up and now they're doing amazing because they got hammered with rain" Wednesday and Thursday night, he said.

He said firefighters are doing clean up operations and laying down new fire protection lines.

"There's no active burning - a bit of smoke and some hot spots. But for the most part, its not the fire it was four days ago," said Keizer.

But he would not say the fire was under control.

"That's a very specific term. It means we have laid a line all the way around, we haven't done that yet, so its still technically out of control."

The fire caused a temporary closure of Highway 5 - the only way into Fort Smith.

Fort Smith Mayor Peter Martselos said the July 26 closure forced some residents to overnight in Hay River until the road home reopened the next day.

The mayor said he's concerned every fire season.

"Yes we've got some fires, but so far so good," he said.