Wildfires in the West | Jasper town ravaged by flames

(Jasper) “It’s a monster.” The wildfire that has burned nearly half of Jasper, Alberta’s iconic resort town, was still burning as of late Thursday evening. With homes reduced to ashes and cars burned to the ground, the first images from the town since the blaze hit showed entire streets razed by flames, sparking shock across the country.

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“I think I will remember this evening for the rest of my life.”

Julien Mailhot has been a server at the Jasper Park Lodge restaurant for about ten years. He was working Monday night when he sensed something was wrong. “The wind picked up, the sky turned orange. We stopped taking orders at the restaurant. There was smoke all the way to the lake, we couldn’t see anything,” he says.

Shortly after, he received an alert, then an evacuation order. “It all happened really fast,” he says. He went home, grabbed a few things and hit the road with his wife, 7-year-old daughter and two cats. “I thought we’d be back in two or three days,” he says.

Seventy-two hours later, from a hotel in Grand Prairie, he anxiously monitors images of Jasper circulating on social media. According to the information he has been able to glean, several buildings have burned near his home. His house may have been spared, but a fire is still burning nearby. “We’re completely in the dark,” he says. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to go back and get my stuff.”

De 30 à 50 % de la ville détruite

En à peine quelques heures, les flammes ont ravagé la ville de Jasper.

« C’est le pire cauchemar de toute collectivité », a réagi la première ministre de l’Alberta, Danielle Smith, retenant ses larmes. En conférence de presse jeudi, elle a estimé que les infrastructures de la ville étaient touchées dans une proportion de « 30 à 50 % », annonçant une « reconstruction importante ».

« Vous avez vu les images comme moi », a-t-elle laissé tomber, soulignant le travail des pompiers risquant leur vie pour sauver une municipalité « unique », située au cœur du parc national de Jasper.

Prisée des touristes, la destination est connue pour ses routes panoramiques, sa chaîne de montagnes et ses lacs à l’eau émeraude. Mais elle était menacée depuis lundi par des incendies de forêt qui progressaient rapidement.

Attisées par des vents forts, les flammes ont atteint les portes de la ville en début de soirée mercredi, malgré des efforts continus pour contenir le brasier.

« À ce stade, c’est juste un monstre », s’est désolé le directeur du programme national de gestion des incendies à Parcs Canada, Pierre Martel, jeudi.

Nous n’avons aucun outil dans notre boîte à outils pour gérer ça.

Pierre Martel, directeur du programme national de gestion des incendies à Parcs Canada

Au total, 25 000 personnes ont été évacuées de la région, pour la plupart des touristes en visite au parc de Jasper. Aucun blessé n’a été rapporté, ont souligné les autorités.

Certains bâtiments ont pu être sauvés, d’autres non

Les résidants de Jasper sont restés dans le noir pendant une bonne partie de la journée, jeudi, quant à l’ampleur des dommages matériels.

Vers 19 h, les autorités du parc national de Jasper ont annoncé sur X que « toutes les infrastructures essentielles de Jasper [avaient] were successfully protected, including the hospital, the emergency services building, primary and secondary schools, the activity center and the wastewater treatment plant.”

The fire, however, affected a large part of the west of the city, according to the authorities.

The drop in temperature and the rain that fell in the region on Thursday have made the work of firefighters somewhat easier as they work to contain the flames, but the fire is still not under control.

The blaze, however, appears to have crossed the city centre, burning a church and a hotel along the way, according to images circulating online.

Located a few kilometres from the city, the emblematic Jasper Park Lodge, where Julien Mailhot works, also fell prey to the flames.

“We do not yet know the extent of the damage,” the management of the establishment said on social networks on Thursday.

A video that has gone viral online shows a landscape of utter devastation, with entire streets razed by flames passing before the camera under a screen of smoke.

“We are beginning to understand the devastating impact of the fire,” said Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland.

The destruction and loss that many of you are facing and feeling is beyond description and understanding.

Richard Ireland, Mayor of Jasper

The locality is working with “all levels of government” to coordinate relief efforts and provide necessary resources, he said.

Alberta Minister of Forests and Parks Todd Loewen called it a “devastating day in the history of our province.”

Driving in panic through the flames

No one expected the flames to spread so quickly.

Marie-Ève ​​Deschênes was camping with her family near Jasper earlier this week when the air quality quickly deteriorated. Within hours, the sky turned orange.

Around 10 p.m., an evacuation notice was issued for all campers. “Trucks were driving by with megaphones warning everyone,” she told The Press.

The most stressful moment, however, was the three-hour wait in line to exit the park. “The longer we waited, the more ash accumulated on the car, the more smoke there was,” she explains.

She then said she drove down a road surrounded by flames in the middle of the night with her young children, panicking.

“That burst moved that fire five kilometres in probably less than 30 minutes, with a wall of fire about 100 metres high,” Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said.

“There’s not much, if anything, you can do when a wall of flames comes at you like that,” he continued.

At the time of the interview, Marie-Ève ​​Deschênes was back home in Cochrane, nearly 400 kilometres southeast of Jasper, where forest fires are also raging.

It’s sad to see how there are fires all the time. I feel sad for the people who are going to lose their homes, for the impact on the environment.

Marie-Eve Deschênes

Reinforcements expected

Authorities had hoped that rain expected Thursday would slow the spread of the flames.

However, while beneficial, it was not “sufficient to have had a significant impact on the overall situation, which remains out of control,” Parks Canada said.

For now, crews on the ground are working to preserve critical infrastructure like the water treatment plant and the Trans Mountain pipeline.

More than 400 firefighters from Mexico, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are expected to arrive in the coming days to help fight the Alberta fires.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called a meeting of the Incident Response Group on Thursday, also confirmed the deployment of the Canadian military, at Alberta’s request.

“The images coming out of Jasper are heartbreaking, and I want to thank the brave first responders in Alberta who are fighting to save every home and community. Thank you for your courage and tireless efforts to fight these wildfires,” he said on X.

It’s not just Jasper that’s worried about the flames. Other municipalities are on alert. There are currently 175 wildfires burning across Alberta, 51 of which are out of control. In British Columbia, there are 425 active fires, 59 of which started in the last 24 hours.

What’s in Jasper?

Just under 5,000 people live in Jasper, located in the heart of the national park of the same name. A popular tourist destination for its lakes, forests and rivers, the park is home to dozens of species, including elk, mountain goats and lynx. Since 1984, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the other parks in the Canadian Rockies. “As far back as we can trace our roots, various Indigenous peoples have used this territory as a place to meet, gather, travel and reside. More than 26 Indigenous partners are still connected to this region,” the municipality’s website states.

Léa Carrier and Tatiana Mulowayi-Pelletier, The Press