Wildfire 12 km from Jasper forces evacuation of town, national park
Posted Jul 23, 2024 10:58 am.
Last Updated Jul 23, 2024 6:41 pm.
Alberta is estimating 10,000 people – a combination of residents and seasonal workers – were forced to evacuate Jasper National Park because of nearby wildfires.
The figure doesn’t take into account the estimated 15,000 visitors – as reported by Parks Canada – who may have been in the area at the time of Monday night’s evacuation order.
“Ten thousand is the number we’re tracking in Jasper, exclusive of visitors, because we have no means of tracking them after the fact if they don’t decide to come back,” explained Stephen Lacroix, the senior assistant deputy minister and managing director at Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
That brings the current total number of Alberta residents displaced from their homes due to wildfires to 17,500. Evacuation orders were already in effect for Little Red River Cree Nation (7,000 people); Chipewyan Prairie First Nation (400); and Chipewyan Lake (100).
“Those numbers will be confirmed as people register at the various receptions that are set up in the province,” said Lacroix, describing it as a “very fluid situation.”
Alberta Emergency Management Agency is working to determine if anyone remains in the town of Jasper.
“There’s an operation ongoing right now to make sure everybody is safely out of the community,” Lacroix added.
Challenging conditions anticipated Tuesday
Jasper National Park says the priority Tuesday is to protect the town and the community by limiting wildfire growth towards town, Highway 16 and critical infrastructure.
“Critical structural protection is being managed by fire teams from across the region,” the national park wrote in a Facebook post.
“Parks Canada has mobilized resources to arrive today and in coming days, including a Parks Canada Incident Management Team and additional firefighting resources and aircraft. Parks Canada and Alberta Wildfire are partners in wildfire response and Alberta Wildfire is supporting Jasper National Park. Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) arrived in Jasper early this morning to assist.”
Christie Tucker with Alberta Wildfire says crews are anticipating challenging conditions Tuesday, with a cold front coming in from B.C. and shifting winds.
The national park is federal jurisdiction, with Environment Canada holding meteorological data and emergency alerts, while Parks Canada has firefighting capacities.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says Parks Canada accepted the province’s “reach-out.”
“We have put our hand out and said ‘we are happy to be here,'” Smith said. “We staged equipment to Hinton. We told them we are prepared to help them whichever way they need us to. They’re taking us up on that offer.”
RELATED: Alberta probing why Jasper residents were initially told wildfire would reach town in 5 hours
The province issued the evacuation alert Monday at 9:59 p.m., warning of a wildfire south of town believed to have been caused by lightning. That was updated to an evacuation order 19 minutes later, with everyone being asked to be out by 3:30 a.m.
“The amount of concern that would have raised for so many people, not just people with small kids already in bed but senior people and others who are might be unfamiliar with our community, I credit all of them for the patience they showed, for the support they offered to each other in ensuring a safe and orderly evacuation,” said Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland. “And all that heightened of course by the anxiety that comes with the uncertain times.”
Smith said the first message left her worried for those who live in the mountain town.
“I saw the message and I was frightened and stressed — as Minister Ellis will attest to and my Chief of Staff, and my deputy minister and anyone I could reach at 11:00 at night. I didn’t want to go to sleep thinking Jasper could hit fire at 4:00 in the morning,” said Smith.
Ellis explained the information in the first update came from officials in Jasper, and the province will be investigating how that message went out.
“Obviously, they would have made that decision and the decision to use that messaging to use that information that they had at the time. As new information came in they corrected it — but that decision was made by the local municipality and the incident command team in the Jasper area,” explained Minister Ellis.
In an updated emergency alert Tuesday morning, officials said the evacuation from the town and the park is “progressing well.” Residents were urged to continue following directives as the majority of traffic was being directed west on Highway 16.
There have been no reported road traffic accidents during the evacuation, Lacroix says. “Which is in itself pretty impressive, actually.”
RCMP were intending to give media a tour of Jasper Tuesday, but the fire flared up, and the city could not be entered.
Mounties however did note Tuesday morning that no buildings has burned done and no one was injured.
Jasper evacuees not going to British Columbia
Some evacuees sought refuge for the night in Valemount, B.C., a small town 120 kilometres west of Jasper.
But the main evacuation reception centres are in Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Calgary, even though they are further from Jasper than Prince George, B.C., for instance.
The reception centre in Grande Prairie is at Bonnetts Energy Centre (10017 99 Ave); Edmonton’s centre is at Kennedale Site, Building #2 (12814-58 Street); the one in Calgary is at Shouldice Athletic Park (1515 Home Road NW).
“The issue is the severity of wildfire activity and evacuations in B.C.,” Lacroix said. “British Columbia has been very gracious in facilitating the movement of Albertans through their province and actually helping us with a collection point in Valemount, but they had no capacity to house Albertans.
“That’s why the decision was made to route people back into Alberta.”
Speaking on the wildfire situation in Alberta and B.C., federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness of Canada Harjit Sajjan says Canada is working with Mexico and South Africa to bring in some 400 firefighters.
“Their expertise and commitment are crucial in these challenging times,” Sajjan wrote on X.
Those are in addition to the more than 100 firefighters from Australia and New Zealand currently in Alberta and B.C.
Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says his thoughts are with the Jasper evacuees.
“Thinking about the thousands of people who endured a very difficult day and night evacuating from the beautiful town of Jasper,” he said. “I hope they are safe and sound as forces bravely work to bring this wildfire under control and protect their community.”
–With files from Cormac MacSweeney in Ottawa
