(Edmonton) A Parks Canada official says the wildfire that has destroyed hundreds of structures in the town of Jasper and continues to burn out of control in the national park could still be burning for months.
“This is the largest fire in Jasper National Park in the last 100 years,” Landon Shepherd, deputy incident commander for the federal agency, said at a news conference Saturday afternoon in Hinton, Alta.
“We’re going to be working on this wildfire, we believe, for at least the next three months. What the last five years have taught us is that the fire season in Jasper tends to last into the fall.”
Mr Shepherd said the area received about 12 millimetres of rain over about a day and a half. Despite that, there are still active hot spots near the community. Fire activity was starting to pick up, he added Saturday, but not to the same degree as last week.
More than 20,000 people in and around the city nestled in the Rocky Mountains, four hours west of Edmonton, were ordered to evacuate late Monday night because of the fast-spreading wildfires.
Parks Canada estimated that 30% of Jasper’s structures were damaged by the wildfire, and 358 of the town’s 1,113 structures were destroyed.
PHOTO AMBER BRACKEN, REUTERS
A fire truck was hosing down the remains of the Maligne Lodge on Friday, which was destroyed by a wildfire.
Among the properties affected by the wildfire was the famous Maligne Hotel.
Christine Nadon, incident commander for the Municipality of Jasper, said at the news conference that an updated map and list of damaged or destroyed properties will be made public Saturday afternoon.
Mme Nadon acknowledged that some people would prefer such traumatic information to be delivered in private. But she added that for the news to be delivered in a timely manner, it must be made public and visible to all.
“The information we are releasing today is based on the damage visible from the street. We have not entered the buildings or seen the rear of the properties,” she insisted, adding that an initial assessment showed that the majority of the structures had been destroyed rather than damaged.
“We are looking at the foundations,” the commander added.
In an online update, Parks Canada said fire suppression is progressing well in the Jasper townsite and it expects all remaining fires to be extinguished in the town by Saturday.
The federal agency noted that power was being restored to parts of the city center and critical infrastructure, which it said would help speed damage assessment and recovery.
Bus tours for evacuees
Earlier Saturday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she would like to see bus tours organized for evacuated Jasper residents so they can see for themselves the damage a wildfire has done to their town and know what to expect when they are finally allowed to return home.
Mme Nadon responded that guided tours for residents, likely by bus, are something his team is working on, but that conditions were not yet safe due to chemicals released from the burned structures and the fire still burning on the outskirts of town.
PHOTO AMBER BRACKEN, REUTERS
A firefighter looked at the rubble of buildings destroyed by the flames on Friday.
“This is a plan that we are working on and will make available as soon as possible,” she said.
Premier Smith, accompanied by Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland and other dignitaries, toured the evacuated town on Friday, where they discovered the burned remains of the home where Mr. Ireland himself grew up.
Mme Nadon said his own home was among the many destroyed.
Alberta’s premier said she expects it will be about 28 days before Jasper residents are allowed to return to their town, explaining that it took a similar amount of time before Fort McMurray residents were given the green light to go home after the raging wildfire in 2016.
While Smith said after her tour of the city on Friday that critical infrastructure was intact, including schools, the hospital and water treatment services, she said on Saturday that staff had to go inside the hospital to check for damage because there were reports its roof had been damaged by fire.
As the town is part of Jasper National Park, reconstruction plans are taking shape with help from the federal government, the premier said.
“We’ve already launched a joint task force on how the recovery is going to happen, trying to figure out when people can return to their communities, and I’m very hopeful that it will be better than ever.”
Mme Smith also noted that temporary housing was used during the rebuilding of High River, Alta., after the town suffered devastating floods in 2013.
“So we’ve seen a precedent of a temporary community that allows people to live on site while rebuilding,” Mr.me Smith to his radio audience, pointing out that the nearby town of Hinton, Alberta, can be used for construction workers.
Provincial officials said about 17,100 Albertans were evacuated due to wildfires on Saturday.
The province said there were 157 wildfires burning in Alberta, of which 44 were classified as out of control, 45 were contained and 68 were under control.
Evacuation orders remain in effect for three communities in the Little Red River Cree Nation as well as Chipewyan Lake.
Additional support from Ontario, Quebec, Australia and South Africa is expected to arrive Sunday, the Alberta government said.