Jasper fire still raging but critical infrastructure intact

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 picturesque 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 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 depicted 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."

It is an international effort. Ottawa said hundreds of firefighters from Mexico, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia were either in Canada or on their way to help out.

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 B.C., dealing with its own fires, did not have the capacity to assist.

Those without a place to stay were 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.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2024.

With files from Lisa Johnson in Edmonton, Jeremy Simes in Regina and Fakiha Baig in Hinton