Travelling from the east and west, people forced from their homes by a monster wildfire will return to Jasper today to begin sifting through the ashes of their devastated community.
Residents of the historic townsite in Jasper National Park will return to a community unrecognizable from the one they left behind nearly four weeks ago.
A procession of vehicles is expected to flood Highway 16, the sole route currently open to the townsite. Highway 93 to the south remains closed.
Residents have been warned to brace for a harsh new reality.
A third of the townsite has been reduced to rubble. Services remain scant. The rebuild is expected to take years.
In all, 358 of Jasper’s 1,113 buildings were lost to the fire that ripped through the town on the evening of July 24, less than 48 hours after a mass evacuation was called, ordering 25,000 residents and visitors to flee the townsite and national park.
Entire neighbourhoods on the southern side of town were destroyed.
RCMP officers have been tasked with patrolling the town’s east entrance and turning outsiders away. Designated support people — close friends or family who are helping residents deal with the disaster — will be granted access to the townsite.
Mayor Richard Ireland said residents are concerned about visitors intruding on their privacy as they survey the damage to their homes and businesses.
He urged outsiders and reporters to keep a respectful distance as the community confronts their losses firsthand.
“Residents will need time and the space to confront their grief privately,” Ireland said Wednesday.
A difficult homecoming
Residents are being advised to approach their damaged properties with caution and to prepare for the shock of seeing the damage.
Officials have cautioned of the risks of returning to the devastation zone, from toxic waste, unstable structures and smoke so dense returning evacuees have been advised to wear N95 masks.
“The photos you have seen will not prepare you for the smell,” the municipality cautioned in a statement to evacuees.
“The state of Jasper is very different now. The process of returning may be intense.”
Evacuees who lost their homes are being urged to use their first hours and days in Jasper to assess their losses and carefully document the damage.
Officials have cautioned that no one should count on spending the night.
Many properties still standing have sustained significant damage from smoke, heat, and water from burst pipes and efforts to douse the flames.
There are no accommodations in place for those whose homes were lost and services, including running water, remain spotty.
Residents of Jasper, Alta., will be allowed to return to the town on Friday, marking what officials say will be the start of a long recovery process from the wildfire.
The wildfire that destroyed one-third of the buildings in Jasper moved in from the south, spitting embers and shooting flames hundreds of metres into the sky.
Wind-whipped and fuelled by bone-dry conditions, it defied all firefighting efforts and crossed into the townsite, lighting up homes and businesses in sheets of orange.
The fire eventually merged with another blaze that had been menacing from the north and has now consumed more than 33,000 hectares.
The wildfire continues to burn within the national park. A state of emergency and an evacuation alert will remain in effect, and residents must be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice.
Re-entry to Jasper was made possible by critical progress made on the fire line. The fire’s northern perimeter, which poses the biggest threat to the community, has been contained.
The flames, however, are expected to remain a volatile presence within the park for months.
Crews expect to be fighting the fire until late in the fall and plumes of smoke will continue to billow over the skyline, long after residents return.
Ireland said seeing fire on the landscape will be part of a difficult “new normal” for Jasper residents.
“Photographs and images on television cannot convey the sense of loss that will be felt in the hearts of residents when they see their homes and their town again,” he said.