Officials in western Canada warned of “volatile wildfire activity,” as dozens of blazes burn in dry conditions across the country, triggering evacuation orders in affected regions and air quality alerts in several U.S. states this week.

By the numbers: Most of the 139 blazes burning in the first major wildfires since Canada’s record season that finally abated in October were in British Columbia (46) and Alberta (46) as of early Tuesday, per the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

• The CIFFC listed 41 of these fires as “out of control” — among them the Parker Lake fire in northern British Columbia, which has burned over 20,000 acres since it began on Friday and which was on Tuesday nearing the town of Fort Nelson, where evacuation orders have already been issued.
• The fires were impacting six U.S. states’ air quality into Tuesday: the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

State of play: B.C. emergency management minister Bowinn Ma said at a Monday briefing that firefighters were facing “extremely challenging conditions” in the north of the province and more evacuation orders were issued in this region on Monday.

• Authorities issued evacuation orders for other British Columbia communities over the weekend.
• “The fuels are as dry as we have ever seen,” B.C. Wildfire Service Cliff Chapman said at a briefing on the Parker Lake fire on Sunday.
• “The wind is going to be sustained, and it is going to push the fire toward the community. Escape routes may be compromised and visibility will be poor as the fire continues to grow.”

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality alert for the entire state that’s valid until 12 noon Monday local time due to “very heavy smoke from wildfires in northeast British Columbia.”

• It extended an air quality alert for the state’s south through 11pm local time as it warned heavy smoke “will linger” across southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities.

In Alberta, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo issued an evacuation alert for several communities in the Fort McMurray area due to “an out of control wildfire” that had burned across more than 16,000 acres as of Monday evening.

Context: About half of Canada is in drought, with B.C. and Alberta the driest provinces, according to the North America Drought Monitor.

• The wildfire threatening Fort Nelson is a holdover or “zombie” fire, having never been fully extinguished after last year’s record season.
• Such fires are unique to the boreal forest, where fire activity in general is increasing as the climate changes.

Between the lines: Studies show that climate change is leading to more instances of critical fire weather, with wildfires becoming more frequent, and exacerbating drought conditions and making such extreme weather events more likely.

What to expect: “Drought conditions are expected to persist in high-risk regions in May, including the southern regions of the prairie and western provinces,” per a Canadian government statement Friday.

• Above-normal temperatures forecast nationwide for the spring and summer period are expected to “exacerbate the risk and intensity of both natural and human-caused wildfires,” according to the statement.