1) (Update) Fire continues to rage in Jasper, but officials say critical infrastructure intact

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Lisa Johnson, Updated July 25, 2024

Parks Canada says crews in the town of Jasper are fighting flames that are jumping from building to building but critical infrastructure has so far been protected.

Parks Canada officials, in an update late Thursday afternoon, said the hospital, the emergency services building, schools, the activity centre and wastewater treatment plant were still standing.

They say crews were able to take advantage of wet weather to take a bite out of the fire, but say the situation remains dynamic and dangerous.

“Structural fire protection units are still fighting fires within the town and continue to deal with fire moving from one building to another,” said the statement.

Officials said business and homes have been lost, with much of the damage on the west side.

“Firefighting efforts have prevented significant damage to much of the infrastructure in the east end of town,” they said.

“Our priority remains protecting structures that have not yet been impacted by fire.”

Bridges in the town and throughout Jasper National Park have also been hit, they said.

Telus reported some landline and cellphone services were down due to wildfire damage.

The owners of the iconic Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, just outside town, confirmed much of the scenic, sprawling resort complex survived.

“Though the hotel did incur fire damage, most of the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge structures, including the main lodge, remain intact and standing,” the hotel said in a social media post.

“We are deeply relieved that much of the property was spared and the resort will reopen.”

Parks officials said they were doing the best they could to deliver verified assessments to anxious residents a day after a wildfire whipped by ferocious 100 km/h winds swooped into the southern edge of the townsite and began destroying homes and livelihoods in sheets of orange-red flame.

At one point Wednesday there were two fires menacing Jasper, from the north and south. Parks Canada said those twin blazes have since merged into one fireball with no estimated size.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, asked by reporters in Edmonton about the extent of damage, estimated a third and perhaps up to half of all buildings in the historic Rocky Mountain resort town were burned.

“We don’t know which structures have been damaged and which ones have been destroyed, but that’s going to be a significant rebuild,” Smith said.

Smith fought back tears as she sought to console residents who were evacuated from the townsite and now face significant hardship when they return.

“We share the sense of loss with all of those who live in the town, who care for it and who have helped build it,” she said.

Images and video surfacing on social media depict blocks of homes and businesses burned to charred foundations and vehicles torched to the hubcaps.

Alberta was getting fire crews and help from 32 municipalities across the province. The province asked for help from the Canadian Armed Forces, and the federal government confirmed aid is on the way.

“Just convened an Incident Response Group meeting on the Alberta wildfires,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a post on X.

“Every federal agency is co-ordinated, sending resources to Jasper, deploying evacuations support to the area and reinforcing firefighting efforts on the ground.”

About 20,000 park visitors and the 5,000 residents of the Jasper municipality had to flee on a moment’s notice Monday night ahead of two wildfires that cut off road access everywhere but west to British Columbia.

A day later they were directed to loop back to Alberta as British Columbia, dealing with its own fires, did not have the capacity to assist.

Those without a place to stay have been directed to evacuation centres in Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Calgary.

Frantic efforts to contain the fires Wednesday — including buckets and fire guards and a last-ditch effort to burn a path from the southern fire to the river and highway — were foiled by high winds.

“That wind gust moved that fire five kilometres in probably less than 30 minutes, with a wall of fire that was about 100 metres high,” said Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis.

“There is little to nothing you can do when you have a wall of flames coming at you like that.”

Pierre Martel, who oversees fire management with Parks Canada, echoed Ellis.

“There are no tools we have in our tool box to deal with that,” Martel told an online news conference.

“It’s just a monster at that point.”

— with files from Jeremy Simes in Regina and Fakiha Baig in Hinton

2) (Update) Jasper evacuees forced into B.C. to flee fires told to make U-turn to Alberta for aid

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Lisa Johnson

Updated July 23, 2024 @ 5:21pm

Thousands of wildfire evacuees forced from Jasper National Park into British Columbia along smoke-choked mountain roads Monday were directed Tuesday to make a wide U-turn and head home if they needed a place to stay.

Alberta fire officials said B.C. has its hands full with its own wildfires and evacuations.

“The issue is the severity of wildfire activity and evacuations in B.C. proper,” Stephen Lacroix, managing director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, told reporters during a video conference.

“They had no capacity to house Albertans.”

Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said reception centres were being set up in Grande Prairie to the north and Calgary to the south.

Ellis told evacuees to take massive detours, either through Prince George, B.C., proceeding north and east to Grande Prairie, or south to Kamloops before going east to Calgary.

“One fire is approximately 12 kilometres south of Jasper on both sides of the (Athabasca) River and wind may exacerbate the situation,” Ellis told reporters.

Everyone in Jasper National Park — tourists, hikers, campers, boaters — along with 4,700 residents of the Jasper townsite were ordered out late Monday night as wildfires pinched off escape routes to the east and south.

The result was a long, slow-moving line of cars and trucks heading west through the mountains to B.C. in darkness, swirling smoke, soot and ash.

Many evacuees sought refuge for the night in Valemount, B.C., a town of 1,000 about 120 kilometres west of Jasper.

“The community’s pretty full,” said town administrator Anne Yanciw in an interview.

“Every parking lot, boulevard, side of the road, field … anything that looks like it could fit a vehicle is full.”

Some evacuees spent the night on the floor of the local arena. Others bunked down at the Legion. A local church was serving a pancake breakfast while drinks, snacks, information and a respite were on offer at Valemount’s community hall and visitors’ centre.

“It’s all hands on deck,” Yanciw said.

Fire officials said forecast windy conditions were expected to make Tuesday a challenging day for crews.

Katie Ellsworth, fire management officer with Parks Canada, said helicopters were dousing targets with water and working to evacuate hikers who might be trapped in the backcountry.

The province has been baking and sweltering for days in 30 C-plus temperatures.

The province reported 170 wildfires burning across Alberta, 56 of which were out of control.

“A lot of the fires that we’re fighting right now were (caused by) lightning, and there’s expected to be more coming in the near future,” Alberta Forestry Minister Todd Loewen said.

There was a provincewide fire ban in the forest protection area.

The province estimated 17,500 Albertans were out of their homes from the Jasper fire as well as those threatening remote northern communities.

On Monday night, photos and video shared on social media illuminated a midnight cavalcade of bumper-to-bumper cars and trucks, headlights on, red tail lights glowing, cars inching, stopping, starting, crawling through swirling tendrils of acrid smoke toward B.C.

The Jasper townsite and the park’s main east-west artery, Highway 16, were caught in a fiery pincer. Fires threatening from the northeast cut off highway access east to Edmonton.

Another fire roaring up from the south forced the closure of the north-south Icefields Parkway. That left one route open — west to B.C.

The Municipality of Jasper and Jasper National Park said Tuesday evacuation from the town and the park was “progressing well.”

Jasper National Park is the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, home to campgrounds, scenic rivers and lakes, and extensive trail networks.

In Hinton, close to the east boundary of the park, Mayor Nicholas Nissen reported only a trickle of evacuees into the community.

Nissen said the sky was blue with less smoke than Monday.

“You would almost have no indication that there’s a disaster in the community next door, just with the way Hinton is right now,” Nissen said in an interview.

He said Hinton has sent equipment and crews to help battle the fires.ers, two fire trucks and other equipment to assist in battling the blaze.