When Paul and Destinee Klyne were planning their California vacation, they never imagined they'd end up spending their days preparing food for displaced wildfire victims. 

But when the Penticton, B.C. couple witnessed the devastation from the state's ongoing wildfire – which has left dozens of people dead and hundreds more unaccounted for – they knew they had to do something to help.

Speaking to CTV News over the phone from Northern California on Friday, Paul Klyne said just bearing witness to the aftermath has been a "harrowing experience."

"Nothing like the people that we're here to assist went through," he added. "They've made it out with the clothes on their back. Their houses are leveled, their businesses are leveled."

The couple's vacation was supposed to be full of rest and relaxation, complete with a spa getaway and some visits with friends. They left their son at home so they could really unwind – but once they saw what was happening, their plans changed.

They initially went out and started buying $25 gift cards to hand out so people could buy daily necessities. Then they met a food vendor who was set up in a Walmart parking lot in Chico, which has become a makeshift camp for evacuees, and began helping with the busy work of making meals.

"I've just been basically hunkered down on the grill for a few days cooking as fast as I can," Klyne said. "As quick as we can put them out, the food just gets gobbled up, that's for sure."

The wildfire broke out in Butte County last week, and is confirmed to have killed at least 63 people. It's also razed 9,800 homes, and displaced some 52,000 people.

Klyne said he's met all kinds of evacuees since they began helping out, and their stories are all heartbreaking.

"Some of the people that I'm meeting have just escaped," he said. "Then I've talked to people who lost their home, completely devastated, on day one. So they had a longer time to suffer the shock and kind of process what they're going to do."

Living in the Okanagan, Klyne said his family is no stranger to wildfires. But he said it's hard to compare B.C.'s experiences with California's – even the 2003 fire in Kelowna, which destroyed 239 homes and displaced 27,000 people, seems small in comparison.

But there's still a kinship, he said, which might have contributed to the couple's eagerness to lend a hand.

"There's no place we'd rather be," Klyne said.