Encroaching flames that forced thousands of people to flee the community of Jasper overnight are now burning 12 kilometres south of the Alberta mountain town.
About 4,700 Jasper residents and visitors to Jasper National Park have been forced to evacuate after a wildfire roared into the area late Monday night.
With little notice, people were forced to flee west into British Columbia over mountain roads through darkness, soot and ash.
“One fire is approximately 12 kilometres south of Jasper on both sides of the river and wind may exacerbate the situation,” Mike Ellis, Alberta’s minister of public safety and emergency services, said during a news conference Tuesday.
Provincial officials are working closely with municipal and Parks Canada officials to help contain the fire and manage the evacuation, Ellis said.�
Hospitals and long-term care facilities in Jasper have been evacuated and RCMP officers have been knocking on doors to ensure residents under evacuation have left their homes.
Ellis urged evacuees to abide by instructions from emergency officials and register with provincial emergency evacuation centres.
He said all Albertans should take precautions and be prepared for the possibility for evacuation as the risk of fire remains extreme across the province.
“Wildfire directions can change quickly and the situations are often rapidly evolving,” Ellis said.
As orders to leave were issued overnight, highways out of the mountain community soon became jammed with traffic.
Photos and video shared on social media overnight depicted a long line of cars and trucks, headlights on, red tail lights blinking, heading out bumper-to bumper as the deep blue night sky darkened.
“It’s wall-to-wall traffic,” Edmonton resident Carolyn Campbell said in a phone interview from her vehicle.
“It [the smoke] is pretty thick. We’ve got masks in the car.”
Campbell said it took hours to move just seven kilometres. She said they had enough gas but worried for others who fled with little in the tank.
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 fire came with little notice, sending park and town officials scrambling to clear up traffic gridlock, find fuel for vehicles and help vulnerable people get to safety while also marshalling resources to battle the fires.
The evacuation alert was sent just after 10 p.m. MT. The Municipality of Jasper declared a state of emergency shortly after.
Alberta Emergency Alert initially said residents had to flee because the fire was five hours from the Jasper townsite, but an hour later corrected that to say people had five hours to get out — meaning they had to be out by 3 a.m. MT Tuesday.
Just after 2:30 a.m. local time, Alberta Emergency Alert issued a notice saying “the evacuation is progressing well.”
The majority of traffic is being directed west on Highway 16, and only when roadside fire conditions permit will small groups of escorted vehicles be directed east on Highway 16, the alert said.
Stephanie Goertz, who was visiting on a family vacation from Ontario, woke to the alert on her phone. She and her husband scrambled to wake their two young children and pack their belongings.
Stephanie Goertz and her family of four say they’ve been on the road for several hours after evacuating Jasper, Alta., due to wildfires in the area. She shares her family’s experience with CBC Morning Live.
It was a long anxious night on the road as vehicles clogged routes out of the community.
Goertz said her family attempted to flee west but were redirected east by emergency officials and drove through the fire zone where roaring flames were visible.
“It was absolutely shocking. We didn’t realize how close it was to Jasper,” she said. “When we were stopped, there was tons of cars behind us. And really realizing how close those cars had been to that fire … There’s a much larger fire south of us. I can’t imagine how that’s going to impact Jasper.”
She said her family was heading toward Canmore but with traffic clogging the highways, they didn’t expect they would make the drive in one night.
“I don’t think we’re gonna get there,” she said. “Our kids didn’t fall asleep until 3:30 because they were just too anxious with the fire. So were we.”
Jessica Jackson, her husband and two young children — six and three — fled their home in Jasper overnight.
She said it took them two hours to drive the three blocks from their home to the highway as vehicles clogged local streets and smoke choked the sky.
“I was getting my kids ready for bed and getting teeth brushed,” she recalled.
“I looked out the window and there was dark, fresh smoke billowing in the air. Ash was falling and at that point, we just knew we had to start getting packed.”
Jackson and her family made their way to Valemount where they spent the night parked on a friend’s property, sleeping in their camping trailer.
“It was a late, late night last night but we’re just grateful to be safe and that our family’s together.”
Difficult to find accommodations
In B.C., the province scrambled to find accommodation for evacuees.
“B.C. will do everything we can to provide safe refuge for evacuees from Jasper, and are working as quickly as possible to co-ordinate routes and arrange host communities on our side of the border,” Bowinn Ma, B.C.’s minister for emergency management, said in a post on the social media site X.
A welcome centre set up at a community hall in the B.C. village of Valemount had reached capacity by 4:30 a.m.
“Valemount has limited services and cannot accommodate more evacuees at the community hall,” a social media post from the Municipality of Jasper read.
“If you are on the road, please drive carefully and stop and get some rest as needed.
“This is an evolving emergency situation. Please be patient and be safe. We will provide more information as it becomes available.”
In Grande Prairie, a reception centre at Bonnetts Energy Centre was to open at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
In Calgary, a reception centre at the Shouldice Athletic Park will open at 11 a.m.
Jasper town officials and Parks Canada said they were rushing to catch up and clear up multiple logistical challenges, including traffic gridlock out of town and finding a place for people to go.
“We are working with the Government of Alberta to establish a reception centre in a large city,” they said in a post on Facebook.
“If you can find a campground or hotel to spend the night, or family or friends where you can spend the night, please do so.”
Parks Canada said evacuations had already taken place at numerous campgrounds, as well as the Athabasca Hostel and the Palisades Stewardship and Education Centre.
“Parks Canada is responding to multiple wildfire starts. This is an evolving and dynamic situation,” the agency said.
The legion in Valemount has opened its doors to evacuees, said Pete Pearson, a village councillor who also serves as legion president. The first evacuees began arriving around midnight and by morning, there was a crowd, he said.
“I’ve got probably about 24 people sleeping on the floor from various countries and a few Jasper locals,” he said. “And we’re just getting ready to get breakfast going and start serving as many breakfasts as we can.”
Pearson said that as soon as he heard about the evacuation orders, he opened the legion doors and put on coffee for people coming in from the road. Evacuees were anxious and exhausted after driving all night through the smoke and flames, he said.
“People were pretty stressed thinking that it was that close and, you know, just not knowing what you’re driving into because we’ve got fires on all sides of us right now,” he said. “You could feel the ash in the air.”
He said Valemount, a community of about 1,000 people, is ready to host as many evacuees as it can handle. Volunteers are coming together to prepare meals and open their homes, Pearson said.
“It’s going to be a challenge but several organizations are stepping up,” he said. “I’ll cook pancakes until I run out.”
According to the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard, there are 170 active wildfires burning across the province as of Tuesday morning.
Environment Canada said cooler temperatures were expected to start moving into northwestern parts of the province starting Monday night, though hot conditions may persist through much of the week farther south.