Thousands of lightning strikes sparked new wildfires across western Canada and prompted evacuations in southern British Columbia, with 25 orders and 90 active fires reported as of Friday morning.

Nearly 34,000 lightning strikes in the past week ignited multiple fires, leading to 25 evacuation orders and 90 active wildfires in southern British Columbia, authorities said.

Hugh Murdoch, incident commander for fires near Kimberley, 320 miles from Vancouver, said the weather forecast was unfavorable and no significant relief from nature was expected.

Environment Canada issued a poor air quality alert for Banff, Alberta and surrounding areas on Friday, predicting improvement over the weekend.

The federal government announced plans to deploy more than 5,300 firefighters and about 300 water bombers, helicopters and evacuation aircraft, and said Mexico would contribute up to 200 firefighters in the coming weeks, the prime minister added.

Approximately 139 active wildfires were reported in north‑west Ontario, with 32 not under control, officials noted.

About 2.95 million hectares of land have burned this year, exceeding the 10‑year average of roughly 2.55 million hectares, authorities said.

Canada’s forested area accounts for 28 % of the world’s boreal forests, Environment Canada said.

Improved weather in eastern Canada helped Quebec contain some blazes, aided by firefighters from neighboring provinces, France and the United States, Stéphane Caron of the provincial forest fire prevention agency Sopfeu said.

Caron added that the situation in Quebec was under control and that hotspots needed to be eliminated to prevent re‑ignition.

The outlook for the weekend remains uncertain as weather conditions evolve, and authorities continue to monitor fire spread.