A wildfire that roared into the community of Jasper, Alta., late Wednesday, incinerating vast stretches of the townsite, has grown to 36,000 hectares, more than quadrupling in size since Tuesday.
Alberta government officials said preliminary estimates suggest 30 to 50 per cent of the town’s structures may have burned. Officials from Parks Canada, the lead agency on the fire, confirmed many buildings were lost, but declined to comment on the full extent of the damage.
Video shared to social media Thursday, taken from inside a truck, showed blocks of buildings and houses turned to charred rubble and foundations. Cars blackened by fire line the streets. Scorched trees stand like matchsticks. Lights of emergency vehicles flare red over the low chatter of an emergency radio. CBC News has verified the video shows Geikie Street and Larch Avenue. The truck eventually pauses in front of a burned home.
“That’s Mom and Dad’s house,” a man’s voice says.
Another video, filmed from a vehicle driving in the town’s northeast, moving west along Connaught Drive, shows buildings that largely appear untouched. The vehicle turns onto Miette Avenue, where the Athabasca Hotel still stands.
Description: Strong language warning: A video posted to social media shows the scene from a vehicle driving south on Connaught Drive, turning onto Miette Avenue. Credit: Tim Stevens/Facebook
A wildfire, one of two that was threatening Jasper for days, reached the mountainside townsite Wednesday evening. An aggressive wall of flames, which officials say reached 100 metres high, consumed homes and businesses and chased many first responders out of the community.
During a news conference Thursday, Premier Danielle Smith was overcome with emotion, needing to take multiple pauses to fight back tears.
“There is no denying that this is the worst nightmare for any community,” Smith said.
“To the residents of Jasper and those displaced far away, looking at images of your town on TV and online, the feelings of loss and fear and loneliness must be overwhelming. But you are not alone. All Albertans are with you.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith fought tears on Thursday as she spoke about the devastation experienced by Jasper residents as a wildfire ravages the historic townsite. ‘The feelings of loss and fear and loneliness must be overwhelming,’ Smith said at a briefing in Edmonton. ‘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.’
The full extent of the damage is unknown, but a large portion of the townsite has been destroyed, Smith said.
“We are seeing potentially 30 to 50 per cent structural damage,” Smith said. “You have seen the images, as I have. We don’t know particularly which structures have been damaged and which ones have been destroyed but that is going to be a significant rebuild.”
Two cabinet ministers, Mike Ellis and Todd Loewen, also said the town potentially sustained 30 to 50 per cent structural damage. Ellis, the public safety and emergency services minister, noted those are preliminary estimates and that the government is waiting for more information from Parks Canada.
Jasper National Park issued updates Thursday evening, stating the two fires near Jasper have merged together and officials estimate the flames span 36,000 hectares. The north and south fires, before merging into one, had burned 270 hectares and at least 6,750 hectares, respectively, as of Tuesday.
Firefighters on site are still battling fires moving from one building to another. The “most significant” damage is in west Jasper and southwest of Miette Avenue, while the east side was spared from “significant damage.”
All critical infrastructure — including the hospital, emergency services building, schools, activity centre and wastewater treatment plant — were protected, the Facebook post said. But “a number” of bridges in town and throughout the national park were damaged.
The Alberta government recognizes many Jasper residents will be displaced for a long time, and it is committed to helping those in need, Smith said.
Parks Canada expects it will take weeks for firefighters to get the wildfire under control — and even longer before it’s extinguished, said Pierre Martel, fire management manager for the agency’s natural resource management branch, during a separate news conference Thursday.
‘Just a monster’
Wind-whipped flames sent embers raining down on the townsite Wednesday, sparking spot fires as it advanced, Martel said. Firefighters scrambled through the night to save homes and businesses.
“What you’re dealing with is just a monster at that point,” Martel said.
“There are no tools we have in our toolbox to deal with that. At that point, you get out of the way, you retreat, and you do what you can to protect communities and infrastructure as best as we can.”
Many first responders, including wildland firefighters without respirators, were eventually forced out of town Wednesday night due to poor air quality. On Thursday, Alberta Wildfire checked in with those forced to leave and they are ready to return, said information unit manager Christie Tucker.
A video posted on social media walking the path north past the playground between Cabin Creek Drive and Patricia Street in Jasper, Alta. Credit: Jeffrey Heyden-Kaye / X
The fire was so intense it likely created its own weather system, said Mike Flannigan, the B.C. innovation research chair in predictive services, emergency management and fire science at Thompson Rivers University.
Fires that burn hot and fast enough generate clouds from combustion on the ground below, creating a firestorm that can trigger various meteorological conditions, including thunder, lightning and wind, he explained, noting that these systems, known as pyrocumulonimbus, only develop during the most volatile and intense fires.
“The fuels were right and the conditions were extreme,” Flannigan said. “It was such a high-intensity fire and the winds were pushing it up the valley, and fires love to run up and down valleys.
“It was just a tragedy to see it happen.”
A video posted to social media shows a vehicle headed west on Turret Street and turning onto Tonquin Street. Credit: Jasper Pizza Place/Instagram
Photographs shared by firefighters from Woodlands County, who were called in to assist in the response, show buildings gutted by fire, including the Jasper Anglican Church, a historic Gothic heritage building also known as the St. Mary and St. George Parish.
The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge was also threatened. The hotel posted on social media Thursday that the hotel sustained damage, but the main lodge is still standing and intact.
During a news conference Thursday, Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland urged residents to be patient as they wait for answers about the damage.
“As this wildfire continues to rage, there are other priorities for those on the ground,” Ireland said. “So I accept that some of those details simply will have to wait until later.”
The Alberta Emergency Management Agency, on behalf of the Municipality of Jasper, has helped request structural firefighters from 34 communities, including Hinton and Edmonton, said Ellis, the public safety and emergency service’s minister. It has requested help from Lakeland College, which has a firefighter training program, and for industrial firefighters across Alberta.
Smith expressed gratitude to those on the front line, still battling the out-of-control fire.
“There really are not enough words to express our thanks and our well wishes for your safety and your success,” she said.
“Once again, you have put yourself on the front lines in a show of true heroism.”
Thursday’s forecast offers some potential relief for firefighting crews in Jasper, with up to 15 mm of rain expected, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
However, ECCC meteorologist Eric Van Lochem warned that getting accurate data from Jasper is challenging because the local weather station has been down since Wednesday night. He couldn’t say if the fire damaged it.
A wildfire that had threatened the Alberta mountainside townsite of Jasper for days finally reached it on Wednesday evening, with flames consuming multiple buildings including the Maligne Lodge. Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland spoke with CBC News Network about feeling helpless ‘in the face of nature, which is just so powerful.’
By early next week, 400 more firefighters from outside of Canada are expected to arrive in Alberta to help battle wildfires throughout the province, Tucker said.
That includes 100 firefighters from Mexico who should arrive Thursday, and 200 from South Africa, expected Friday. An Australian team arrived last weekend, but 100 more firefighters from Australia and New Zealand should arrive Sunday and Monday.
Meanwhile, Jasper municipal council will keep working with all levels of government to co-ordinate relief efforts and supports for thousands of evacuees now dispersed across Western Canada, Ireland said in a public statement Thursday morning.
More than 17,500 Albertans are displaced due to wildfires as of Thursday, Ellis said. The evacuation in Jasper National Park led to 25,000 people fleeing, but he said they were mostly visitors who could go on to other places.
‘We will recover’
Smith broke down at the podium Thursday while speaking about the beauty of Jasper, her own family’s traditions and memories, and the loss that residents are experiencing.
“While those of us who have experienced Jasper as visitors can’t imagine what it feels like to be a Jasperite right now, 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.
“We will recover from this.”
- Do you have a personal connection to Jasper National Park, or a memory to share? Send an email to ask@cbc.ca
Ireland said residents are just starting to come to terms with the disaster’s devastation and the challenges ahead. He urged the people of Jasper to lean on one another.
Provincial and federal officials were meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss, among other things, how to support evacuees and how to deploy federal aid that was approved Wednesday.
The province had asked Ottawa for more firefighting resources, aerial support to move crews and equipment, and help evacuating remote communities.