A helicopter buckets water onto smouldering fires outside of Jasper, Alta., on Friday July 26, 2024. Parks Canada says work to retrieve pets and restore various utility services continues around the Municipality of Jasper as an out of control wildfire burns nearby. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken
EDMONTON – A fire rampaging through Jasper National Park remained out of control Wednesday, while officials worked to restore power and water in the park’s townsite and to hash out a plan for vacationers to retrieve their stranded camping trailers.
“The wildfire is still very active,” Mike Ellis, Alberta’s public safety minister, told an online news conference.
Work continued on multiple fronts. Ellis said crews on the ground and in helicopters were battling flames, with air tankers on standby.
He said a plan was being formulated and should be ready in the next day or so to help people get the campers and trailers they were forced to abandon when everyone was ordered out of the park.
Ellis also said the stretch of Highway 16 through the park was soon set to reopen to heavy commercial traffic.
“This is an important economic corridor,” he said.
Alberta Forestry Minister Todd Loewen said the firefighting is expected to become more challenging in the coming days as hotter, drier, windier weather is forecast.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Loewen said.
Flames that destroyed a third of all structures in the Jasper townsite have been extinguished.
Parks Canada, in a statement, said 750 people are involved in the firefighting effort, with the focus on making sure fire does not re-enter the picturesque Rocky Mountain community.
The 5,000 residents of the town, along with about 20,000 visitors, were ordered out on moment’s notice on the night of July 22. Two days later, fire whipped by strong winds overwhelmed crews and rolled into the southern edge of town, destroying 358 homes and businesses.
Critical infrastructure survived. The town was flushing waterlines and restoring power, but there was still no word on when people would be allowed to return.
Parks Canada also said municipal teams were retrieving lost pets in the town.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2024.
