TORONTO, Canada: New wildfires have started in western Canada, while older fires are still burning in Ontario. Canada is facing one of its most severe wildfire seasons in recent history, according to Prime Minister Mark Carney.

In the past week, nearly 34,000 lightning strikes have caused many new fires, especially in southern British Columbia. By the morning, there were 25 evacuation orders and about 90 active wildfires in the province. Officials warned that hot and dry weather could make the fires spread further.

Incident Commander Hugh Murdoch said the weather outlook was very poor and offered no help in controlling the fires in the coming days. He was speaking about a group of fires near Kimberley, in British Columbia, about 520 kilometers from Vancouver.

This summer, large wildfires have spread across remote forests in Canada. They have been driven by extreme heat and frequent lightning, both linked to rising temperatures. Smoke from these fires has also traveled far, reaching major cities on the U.S. East Coast and in the Midwest last week.

In Ontario, there were 139 active wildfires in the northwest region, and 32 of them were still not under control.

Environment Canada issued a warning about poor air quality in Banff, Alberta, and nearby areas on Friday. However, it said air conditions were expected to improve in most places over the weekend.

Prime Minister Carney said the federal government would send more than 5,300 firefighters and around 300 aircraft, including water bombers, helicopters and evacuation planes, to fight the fires. He said extreme heat and very dry conditions were making this one of the worst wildfire seasons Canada has ever faced. He also said Mexico would send up to 200 firefighters to help in the coming weeks.

Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes this summer, including members of some First Nations communities. So far this year, about 2.95 million hectares of land have burned, which is higher than the 10-year average of around 2.55 million hectares. Canada also has more active wildfires now than it did at the same time in the past two years.

Canada's forests make up about 28 percent of the world's boreal forest area.

In eastern Canada, better weather has helped firefighters in Quebec bring some fires under control. They have also received support from crews in nearby provinces, as well as from France and the United States.

Stéphane Caron from Quebec's forest fire agency said the situation in Quebec was under control and that good weather was helping. He added that teams still needed to check carefully for any remaining hotspots, as fires could start again if hot and dry conditions returned.