UPDATE: This story from Wednesday night is now outdated. To see the latest on the fire situation and comments from officials, go to this story. To see photos and videos of the destruction in Jasper, go to this post.
Images of destruction emerged from one of the most popular and scenic destinations in Alberta Wednesday night, as a wildfire reached the mountain town of Jasper.
The fire inside Jasper National Park arrived at the townsite around 6 p.m., shortly after some first responders were evacuated because the situation had become too dangerous to stay.
Parks Canada confirmed multiple buildings in the mountain town were impacted.
“There are significant amounts of structural firefighters are in town and are actively fighting structural fires,” James Eastham, the wildfire information officer for the Jasper Complex Wildfire, said in an interview outside the park gates near Hinton.
“There has been structural loss at this point. I can’t confirm how many locations or specific structures.”
“The fire continues to burn. It is a very dynamic situation.”
The historic Jasper Park Lodge, one of the most-well known and storied resorts in the area, was affected, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts told Global News.
“We can confirm that the fire has reached the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge grounds, however, we are unclear on the extent of damage.”
The statement went on to say as of around 9:30 p.m., the company also knows parts of the resort remained untouched.
“We are monitoring the situation remotely and will provide more information as it becomes available,” a statement from the company said.
“We are devastated by the situation that our Jasper and Alberta community members are facing. We are extremely thankful that all of our colleagues and guests have been safely evacuated. We hope the same for all others in the area.”
The Maligne Lodge, a hotel at the southwest end of town, was destroyed. The hotel’s ownership confirmed the loss late Wednesday night.
“Sadly we lost our beloved hotel The Maligne Lodge this evening,” said Karyn Decore, president and CEO of Decore Hotels that also owns the Tonquin Inn and Wicked Cup in Jasper.
“It was proudly owned and operated by our family since 1961. We are so devastated and we are also so sad for all the other business owners, operators, residents and wonderful people who call Jasper home.”
Global News has yet to confirm what other properties may be affected.
In its last planned update of the evening at 10 p.m., Parks Canada acknowledged it had been an “exceptionally difficult day for Jasperites, incident personnel and everyone who loves Jasper.”
“As the pictures and videos circulating online show, significant loss has occurred within the townsite,” the update said, adding firefighters are working overnight to try to save the rest of the town.
Parks said it understands people want to know if their homes, businesses and other favourite places had been lost however, at this time it was unable to confirm specifics.
“Our focus continues to be on saving as many structures as possible.”
Earlier in the evening, some firefighters were forced to leave.
At 8:30 p.m., Parks Canada said the air quality had deteriorated to the point that wildland firefighters and others without self-contained breathing apparatuses needed to evacuate to Hinton.
“Structural firefighters remain in town and are working to save as many structures as possible and to protect critical infrastructure, including the wastewater treatment plant, communications facilities, the Trans Mountain Pipeline and others.
“Many additional structural protection resources are en route.”
Firefighting resources on the way to Jasper
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Help is on the way from not just across Alberta, but the country.
Calgary said at the request of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, it had deployed 19 members of its Canada Task Force 2. In the Edmonton area, St. Albert and Strathcona County are also sending crews to the mountains.
Even smaller communities are stepping up to help.
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The County of Vermilion River said one of its fire engines was headed west and expected to arrive in Hinton at midnight. The county said it was joined by crews from Irma, Wainwright, Minburn County, Vegreville and many others.
The Alberta government asked for the military to help as the fire situation is extreme across the entire province.
“With the province experiencing significant wildfire activity, Alberta’s government is requesting assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces,” Forestry Minister Todd Loewen said on Wednesday evening.
“We are requesting firefighting resources and aerial support to move wildfire crews and equipment, and more.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government is sending help.
“We’ve approved Alberta’s request for federal assistance. We’re deploying Canadian Forces resources, evacuations support, and more emergency wildfire resources to the province immediately — and we’re coordinating firefighting and airlift assistance,” Trudeau said in a statement late Wednesday night.
“Alberta, we’re with you.”
Fire burned too fast and fierce to be stopped
Portions of the southern-burning fire had reached the outskirts of the townsite just before 6 p.m., officials said. The flames reached the town itself about 40 minutes later.
Eastham said the flames spread fast and furious.
“Fire crews were witnessing 300- to 400-foot flames, fully involved continuous crown fire and a fire spread rate of approximately 15 metres per minute.”
The fire was being driven by “strong winds from the south and southeast.”
Multiple people expressed fears to Global News there may not be a Jasper townsite left by Thursday morning.
Efforts were made to try to stop the spread but the fire simply blew up too fast.
Parks Canada said earlier Wednesday evening that aerial suppression efforts “proved ineffective” in controlling the fire.
“Unfortunately, given how fast the fire was moving, by the time our helicopter was ready to conduct that ignition operation, the winds were too high and to proceed safely,” Eastham said.
Fireguards being made by heavy equipment were not able to be completed before the heavy equipment needed to be pulled off the fireline for safety.
Water bombers from Alberta were unable to assist due to dangerous flying conditions,” Parks Canada said.
An ignition specialist also arrived, with the goal to complete landscape-level ignition in order to bring the fire to large holding features such as Highway 16 and Athabasca River.
“Unfortunately, unfavourable conditions prevented this.”
Parks Canada, the Municipality of Jasper, as well as responders from Alberta and other provinces were continuing with efforts to protect the town.
Firefighting efforts right now are focussed on protecting critical infrastructure, including the wastewater treatment plant, the hospital, the fire hall. Various communications infrastructure as well,” Eastham said.
Ten to 20 millimetres of rain is forecasted to arrive in the next 24 hours, beginning later Wednesday night. If the area receives rain it will help to reduce fire activity.
Late Wednesday afternoon, first responders began relocating to Hinton, Alta., about 50 kilometres east of Jasper.
“This decision has not been made lightly,” the Municipality of Jasper said in a statement to the community.
“First responders dedicate their lives to the protection of people and communities. Given the intensity of fire behaviour being observed the decision has been made to limit the number of responders exposed to this risk.”
ATCO Electric said its crews were among the essential workers who were evacuated.
2 fires burning in Jasper National Park
The fire is one of two wildfires burning in Jasper National Park.
The wildfire burning north of of the townsite is about 270 hectares in size, according to an official who spoke to reporters at a news conference held via video call on Wednesday morning.
Katie Ellsworth, an incident commander with Parks Canada, said the southern fire that has since reached the townsite was about 10,800 hectares in size.
“As always, safety is the No. 1 priority of Parks Canada,” she said, adding that the protection of property is also a key priority.
Ellsworth reiterated the importance of all evacuees registering at reception centres as soon as they can so officials know their status.
Richard Ireland, the mayor of Jasper, also spoke at Wednesday morning’s news conference and noted some residents of the townsite had stayed behind to provide support, including food and shelter, to fire crews.
“These people who have stayed behind are not professionals, they are not trained for this particular role,” he said. “Forty-eight hours ago, they perhaps had no expectation at all that they would be thrust into this particular role.”
Ellsworth added that while rain is forecast for Wednesday night and into Thursday, “there is not enough rain in this forecast to control the wildfire.”
An evacuation order was issued for the entire park, including the Jasper townsite, on Monday night and officials estimate about 25,000 people were forced to leave.
Because of where the wildfire hazard is, evacuees were forced to head west out of Jasper and into British Columbia.
While a welcome centre was set up in Valemount, B.C., the community soon became overwhelmed with incoming people and the centre has since been closed.
Alberta emergency officials said B.C. is not in a position to accept wildfire evacuees from Alberta currently as it is already tight on space and resources as it deals with its own wildfires and wildfire evacuations.
As a result, reception centres for evacuees have been set up in Calgary, Edmonton and Grande Prairie. Evacuees have been forced to take long detours to get to those cities as a result of having to head west into B.C. when leaving Jasper.
It is not clear when residents or visitors will be allowed back to Jasper.
Parks Canada has automatically cancelled camping reservations from July 23 to Aug. 6 and refunding those who booked already.
“We appreciate your patience as we take necessary action to keep our visitors safe,” Parks Canada officials said, adding that people wanting to cancel reservations beyond Aug. 6 may face “regular cancellation charges.”
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Alberta wildfires: Jasper under evacuation order
For the latest information on which areas in Alberta are under an evacuation alert or order due to a wildfire, visit the Alberta Emergency Alert website.
For the latest information on the wildfire status and danger across the province, visit the Alberta Wildfire website.
The latest information on fire advisories, restrictions and bans across the province can be found on the Alberta fire bans website.
For the latest on road closures in Alberta, you can visit the 511 Alberta website.
–– with files from Global’s Lisa MacGregor, Phil Heidenreich and Sean Boynton, and The Canadian Press
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