The Chetamon wildfire burning just outside the town of Jasper is believed to have cost the tourist town in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains more than $10-million in revenue.
James Jackson with Tourism Jasper said the eight-figure number is only the beginning estimate of “lost business” and he expects it to rise after they look into the indirect costs.
“There’s an absolute myriad of indirect costs that are still yet to be determined … food and beverage, inventory, spoilage, fuel and generator costs that businesses incurred, as well as a lot of the wages that businesses were supplying to their staff without any revenues over a period of time just to ensure that they could take care of their people,” Jackson said.
“So I think it’s going to be a little while until we fully understand the financial impact of this crisis.”
The fire was sparked by lightning just before the September long weekend. It destroyed some transmission lines, which caused massive power outages for the townsite in the national park for more than a week.
In turn, most local businesses were forced to close and due to safety concerns and the inability to provide basic amenities, the popular tourist town west of Edmonton had to discourage people from visiting.
On the bright side, Jackson said they’re hopeful for economic recovery in the near future, as September is a peak month for international visitors.
He also pointed out for many, Jasper is a popular choice to visit amongst Albertans in the fall and just like during the pandemic, he hopes Canadians will continue to support the small town through this tough time.
“We’ll have the Via Rail in town for sure, we’ll have Rocky Mountaineer (train) back and a number of other tour operators that have been phenomenal in relocating their visitors over the last few weeks,” Jackson said.
“So I think we’ll be OK, but, you know, if anybody’s itching to get out for the weekend, we could definitely use your business.”
As of Thursday morning, the fire’s size was estimated to be 6,000 hectares — unchanged for the past week.
In a news release from Jasper National Park, they said though the fire remains active, firefighting efforts and a cooler forecast have effectively prevented any significant wildfire spread over the last five days.