New numbers confirm one-third of Jasper townsite destroyed in this week’s wildfire

HINTON, ALBERTA, CANADA — One-third of all structures in the townsite of Jasper are gone, burned to the ground in this week’s wildfire, officials confirmed Friday.

Premier Danielle Smith said there are 1,113 structures in the picturesque Rocky Mountain resort community.

She said Wednesday night’s wildfire destroyed 358 of them and damaged seven more.

The structures were homes and businesses. Much of the damage was contained to the west side of town.

Smith said critical infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and water treatment services, remain intact.

“It was the hard work of firefighters and front-line workers who protected Jasper from even more damage,” Smith told reporters at a news conference near the eastern gate of Jasper National Park.

Smith said it will be a while before residents will be allowed back, but there is no definite timeline as the fire is still raging in the park.

Smith said they have to make sure gas pipelines are not damaged. Power and electricity have to be turned on again. And the wildfire has to be tamed so that stray embers don’t reignite another tragedy.

“This is not a fast process,” said Smith.

Canadian National Railway Co., meanwhile, resumed freight shipments through the park after closing service through its Rocky Mountain mainline corridor because of the fires.

Smith and other officials were set to tour the devastation in the townsite later Friday.

Crews were helped out overnight by rain and cool weather, but temperatures were forecast to rise again over the weekend.

The two blazes that menaced Jasper earlier this week have since merged. The total area burned or partially burned is estimated at 360 square kilometres.

Jasper was receiving fire help from 32 municipalities across the province along with aid from the federal government and even international crews from as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

About 25,000 people, including all of the town’s 5,000 residents, were forced to flee the fires Monday night.

Those without a place to stay have been sent to evacuation centres in Edmonton, Calgary, and Grande Prairie.

Everyone in the park had to get out at a moment’s notice around 10 p.m. Monday when two fires, advancing from the north and south, cut off road access to the east and south, leaving the only path out west to British Columbia.

Relentless, fierce winds gusting up to 100 km/h challenged and eventually overwhelmed crews, and the southern fire broke through early Wednesday night and began wreaking havoc.

Questions have been raised over why the fire wasn’t contained and whether there was adequate existing fire protection. Both Parks Canada officials and Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis have said little could be done in the face of towering walls of fire moving at lightning speed.

At Friday’s news conference, federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan said Jasper was considered one of the safest communities against fire.

“Mother Nature, in this case here, just won out,” he said.

Richard Ireland, the mayor of Jasper, agreed. “Despite all of that preparation, the nature of this fire was such that it humbled the humans on the ground,” he said.

Ireland said while some residents won’t have homes or businesses to go home to, supports are on the way to help them over the next weeks and months.

“There is starting to emerge the glimmer of hope,” he said.

“If there are homes for some, there is community for all. We will all get back.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2024.

— By Lisa Johnson in Edmonton

The Canadian Press