The member of Parliament representing Jasper fears the pine beetle infestation in the mountains puts the national park at a higher risk for a devastating wildfire.
Jim Eglinski, MP for the Yellowhead riding, said the fires in B.C. brought his worries to the forefront.
“My concern regarding the fire in B.C. is that a lot of it is being fuelled by pine beetle kill and we have seen a large portion of Jasper Park also attacked by the pine beetle.”
READ MORE: B.C. wildfires map 2017: Current location of wildfires around the province
He said mountainsides have been affected by the invasive species from Mount Robson to the townsite and all the way through to the Hinton park entrance, closest to Edmonton.
“A pine beetle kills off the wood and two to three years after the attack, the wood basically dries out. It’s kindle dry. The bark is very dry. There’s no moisture in there. It’s just a very active fire source.”
If a fire were to spark, accidentally or naturally, Eglinski said it could put residents and visitors in danger, as it’s especially busy this summer for Canada 150.
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“There is the potential to have a lot more people spread throughout areas of the park where we normally wouldn’t have them. It could pose a bit of a hazard situation if the park was to catch on fire.”
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Adding to the problem? There’s limited routes out of the mountains, similar to the issues Fort McMurray experienced.
“We don’t want to see a situation similar to what we saw in Fort McMurray.”
READ MORE: One year after wildfire, was the evacuation of Fort McMurray called at the right time?
There are three highways out of Jasper, south to Banff, west to B.C. and east to Edmonton.
The MP said fire crews have been doing some prescribed burns in recent years, and also clearing particularly bad areas – but there’s also rink involved there.
“They need to be very careful when they do it, especially if they do it by way of burning. It’s got to be the perfect situation, it can’t be windy or anything, because they don’t want a fire to be out of control.”
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Eglinski has asked for a meeting with Jasper’s mayor, as well as the federal minister responsible for Parks Canada. He’s looking for a more robust outline of what would happen in an emergency.
“I just want to make sure, for the safety of the residents of Jasper, the government employees, the people visiting there, that we have an emergency plan set up.”
“If something were to happen, I want to make sure we can get the people out of there safely and as quickly as we can.”
Watch below: Ongoing Global News coverage of the B.C. wildfires
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