Jasper officials release map, list of all structures destroyed by wildfire
Karen Dyck and her husband have spent the past several days holding on to hope that their home, in the west end of Jasper, Alta., still stands.
Parts of the historic townsite, about 365 kilometres west of Edmonton, were decimated by a massive wildfire earlier this week. Officials have stated, based on preliminary intelligence, that west Jasper was hit hard.
The couple has watched videos and looked at photos coming in from neighbours and other residents, cautious to assume one way or the other. Some of the images, Dyck said, showed a neighbour’s house standing, with their roof or the side of their house in the background.
“We want to make that assumption that it’s still standing,” she told CBC News.
On Saturday afternoon, she learned that it is.
Dyck and other Jasper residents received more details about the damage a wildfire — the largest the national park has seen in more than a century — wrought since it reached the town Wednesday evening.
The Municipality of Jasper released a map and list of addresses showing where buildings were damaged in the community. The information is based on damage visible from the street, said Christine Nadon, the town’s incident commander.
“We have not been inside buildings or seen the back side of properties,” Nadon said during a news conference Saturday afternoon.
“Buildings marked as ‘not damaged’ on the map could have internal damage from smoke and water.”
The information is preliminary and subject to change, she said. Nadon acknowledged that some residents likely would have preferred to receive the information privately, but it was made public so people could access it more quickly.
Parks Canada — the lead agency on the firefighting effort — estimated Friday that 358 of the town’s 1,113 structures — about one third of all buildings — were destroyed.
The map released Saturday supports what officials have previously said: west Jasper and southwest of Miette Avenue sustained the brunt of the damage.
Entire blocks and rows of buildings and homes were destroyed. One west end neighbourhood was almost incinerated, the map shows.
CBC News analyzed the list of addresses, which showed Patricia and Geikie streets, and Cabin Creek Drive, lost the most structures in town.
“Most of them are destroyed, not damaged, from our initial assessments. We’re looking at foundations,” Nadon said.
“Very few fall under the category of ‘damaged.'”
The town of Jasper released a preliminary map showing which homes have been destroyed and which appear undamaged. The information comes as many Jasper residents are anxious to learn the status of their evacuated homes. The wildfire is the largest ever recorded in Jasper National Park and is still burning outside of town.
A few media members joined government and emergency officials, including Jasper’s mayor and the Alberta premier, on a tour of Jasper Friday afternoon, documenting a first look at the wildfire’s destruction.
Images and video captured showed parts of Jasper had become a torched, ash-covered wasteland. Where homes and businesses once stood, only foundations and rubble remained.
CBC News previously verified some businesses that were burned down, such as the Maligne Lodge. But the list released Saturday confirmed the addresses of others that had been destroyed, such as Wicked Cup café, The Birch restaurant and a pharmacy.
Damage assessments are still underway, but structures are mostly destroyed or unaffected, Nadon said.
Premier Danielle Smith would like to see bus tours organized for Jasper evacuees, so they can see the damage for themselves and know what to expect when they’re eventually allowed to return home, she said while on her provincewide call-in radio show Saturday.
Smith also said she’d like temporary housing arranged for residents so they can live in the town while they rebuild their homes.
Two wildfires — one north, the other south — had threatened Jasper for days, forcing thousands to evacuate Monday evening. Warm weather and powerful winds fuelled the southern fire as it raced toward the community.
On Saturday, Parks Canada deputy incident commander Landon Shepherd noted that climate change also abetted the south fire, which started as three separate fires. Mountain pine beetle, an invasive species that affects many types of pine trees, was not suppressed as it spread into Alberta, he said.
“That beetle definitely shaped the fuel structure and made the possibility of a change [in the landscape], from what you might have historically seen, much more likely,” he said.
Premier Danielle Smith, Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland and federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan get a firsthand look Friday at the extensive damage from the wildfire that hit the town of Jasper — including the mayor’s home since childhood. Some of the businesses and homes shown on the tour still smouldered as firefighters hosed down rubble.
The inferno, described as a monster fire, with flames reaching 100 metres high, hit Jasper late Wednesday and ripped through the townsite.
The southern fire eventually merged with the northern fire. The two fires, as well as the Utopia wildfire near Miette Hot Springs, make up the group of fires called the Jasper Wildfire Complex.
In an update posted on social media Saturday, officials said the fire — still burns out of control and has consumed an estimated 32,000 hectares.
The size was downgraded from an estimated 36,000 hectares following an aerial survey of the perimeter, the statement said. Shepherd said it is the largest fire in more than 100 years.
“At this time, we’re not expecting that it’s going to be easy to change the status from ‘out of control’ to ‘being held,'” he said.
Officials have urged patience as their crews, with help from newly-arrived troops, continue to battle the flames while also verifying the scope of the damage, house by house.
“We are doing everything we can to assess damages to structures as quickly as possible. Our priority is ensuring that the information provided is accurate,” Nadon said.
The fire in Jasper, one of 149 burning across Alberta, remains a top priority for provincial firefighting crews, said Melissa Story, an Alberta Wildfire information officer, during a news conference Saturday.
Heavy rain has subsided wildfire danger, she said. But with added rain, comes the risk of lightning strikes — and with temperatures expected to rise in the coming days, the risk will again escalate.
Stephen Lacroix, head of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, called this period a critical moment in the wildfire response.
Crews are working along the perimeter closest to town, dousing hot spots and are planning for the creation of containment lines that would act as a barrier if the flames return.
It’s unclear when residents will be allowed to return home and begin the daunting process of rebuilding destroyed properties and repairing those still standing.
Officials expect all remaining fires within the townsite will be extinguished Saturday. But Parks Canada believes crews will be fighting the wildfire for at least three months, Shepherd said, noting that fire season in Jasper, over the past five years, has tended to last “well into the fall.”
The population of Valemount, B.C., has nearly doubled because of an influx of evacuees from nearby Jasper, Alta., who have set up temporary residence as they wait to figure out their next steps.
Bucketing will be taking place near Marmot Basin, where the damage to infrastructure remains unknown.
Power is being restored to parts of the downtown core and critical infrastructure, a key step in speeding damage assessment and recovery, parks officials said.
Arrangements are also being made to allow evacuees who were forced to flee west to Valemount, B.C., to safely travel through the park to reunite with family in Alberta, on the park’s east side.
Troops arrive
Outside the gates of fire-ravaged Jasper National Park, military cargo trucks rumble along the highway, carrying soldiers clad in green camouflage.
Members of the Canadian Armed Forces have arrived to help with the firefighting effort. Soldiers from southwestern Manitoba’s CFB Shilo were the first to arrive Friday night, setting up camp in Hinton, inside the local recreation centre and arena.
Hinton, a town outside the national park’s eastern gates, became the wildfire centre of operations after most first responders had to evacuate Jasper Wednesday night.
When the Forces respond to a crisis like a wildfire, it is known as Operation Lentus. Troops will be providing logistical support and assisting with firefighting, including dousing hotspots and mopping up areas devastated by the flames.
Troops will spend Saturday morning on forced rest before preparing for deployments on the front lines to fight alongside Alberta firefighters already in the field, said Maj. Colin Carswell, of combat service support company command, based in Shilo.
“We have a great team,” Carswell said, adding that the soldiers, trained for the tasks at hand, are eager to help.
“Once you see the people that are affected, some people or some families that have come in from Jasper that stop and talk to you, you really think about how, if this happened to you, you would want somebody like our team helping them out.”
Fire crews have deemed Jasper safe enough for CBC to get a first hand look at the damage caused by wildfire.
The troops deploy with three days worth of ready-to-eat meals — what the military calls individual meal packs (IMPs), or rations, he said.
“We are working to, eventually, bring out kitchen trailers to serve fresh meals to the soldiers, so they can have a nice hot meal and a shower in the arena after a long day on the lines with the Alberta wildfires,” Carswell said.
The Alberta government, meanwhile, has co-ordinated the deployment of more than 250 wildland urban interface personnel directly to Jasper, Lacroix said. It remains committed to helping as the situation unfolds.
The provincial government will host a telephone town hall for wildfire evacuees on Monday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Details on how to join are available here.
