Jasper evacuees enjoy a meal served by volunteers in the basement of the New Life Centre in Valemount, B.C. on Thursday, July 25, 2024.Marissa Tiel/The Globe and Mail
Despite their displacement, despite news that fire had scorched swaths of their once-picturesque mountain town, a sense of resolve is spreading among Jasper evacuees.
The downtown core is torched. All the shops are gone. A lot of the lower-cost housing – where young families especially tended to live – has burnt.
But the hospital, the waterworks and the schools are still standing, notes Jasper resident Keslin Park from Valemount, B.C., a town of just over 1,000 people about 120 kilometres west.
“That’s the basis of a community right there. It’s a matter of rebuilding. Right now, it’s just a waiting game.”
Adds Dave Baker, who works for a Jasper tour company: “Everyone I know and love is alive. Everything else can be replaced.”
Mr. Baker’s apartment is gone; so is his truck, which was parked outside.
“For the first time in my life, I know exactly where everything I own is – I’m either wearing it, or it’s in my pocket.”
Valemount, where many evacuees have taken refuge, is a small enough community that each of the 11 graduating students from Valemount Secondary School has their photo displayed on a lamp post on Fifth Avenue, the town’s main drag. That kind of community spirit has also embraced the evacuees.
“We’re a kin community to Jasper. We’ll do whatever we can for our neighbours,” says Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson, who spent all night Monday directing traffic as 16,000 evacuees arrived in the village.
Wesley Shinn, a sous chef at the Jasper Earls, cleans up in the kitchen after preparing a meal for Jasper evacuees alongside other volunteers in the basement of the New Life Centre in Valemount, B.C.Marissa Tiel/The Globe and Mail
Volunteers at the legion cooked breakfast for 1,000. Evacuees slept there, and at the community hall and a local church. The Valemount Pines Golf and R.V. Park put up 600, and refused to allow anyone to pay.
As many as 1,500 Jasperites remain in Valemount.
“I feel tired, uncertain and grateful,” says Ms. Park. “It’s kind of like grieving. Oh wait. It is grieving.”
“It felt inevitable. And yet it felt like it would never happen. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but that’s how it felt. We’ve been preparing for this for 20 years and yet still it was a surprise.”
Kim Winand feels that the loss of the houses isn’t as devastating as the thought that the people in Jasper may have to be scattered across the country. The community can’t be replaced, she says
“I’ve travelled the world and there is nothing like Jasper anywhere.
Around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, the mood suddenly shifted at the Three Ranges Brewery in Valemount.
Video: Footage of Jasper wildfire at night
Several dozen Jasper evacuees who had fled their tiny Alberta town overnight Monday had congregated at the outdoor pub. They had been waiting to find out when they could go home.
Word began trickling in that the firefighters guarding their homes had pulled out – it was too dangerous to keep fighting the fire threatening the mountain community.
Fifteen minutes later, someone shouted that a gas station just “blew up.”
A photo of Jasper’s WickedCup café in flames started circulating.
A group of four grabbed one another in a hug.
“There’s not going to be a lot left of Jasper by tomorrow,” said Jeff Morris, through tears.
Mr. Morris was working as a guide at SunDog Tours on Monday night, when his boss phoned to tell him he had to get out because the entire town was under an evacuation order. Mr. Morris drove quickly to the office, jumped into a tour bus and headed for the local senior’s home, loading everyone inside for the frightening, late-night drive to Valemount.
None of the seniors fell asleep during the wild ride, says Madonna Popwell, who works for Evergreens, a non-profit that provides housing for seniors in Jasper. “We were driving through flames. I was too focused to feel scared.”
Around 60 Evergreens residents are seeking shelter in Valemount. Today, Ms. Popwell took a group of seniors on a tour of the town’s tidy downtown and bought cards and games to help keep them entertained. She helps to gather the group to eat meals together.
“I think sharing meals is really helping,” says Ms. Popwell.
Volunteers have been serving three meals a day for Jasper evacuees at the New Life Centre, which is pictured in Valemount, B.C. on July 25, 2024.Marissa Tiel/The Globe and Mail
For now, evacuees are settling in to a strange, new normal. The thrift store opened so Jasperites could buy some clothes – few had come prepared for the colder weather and had to buy jackets and sweaters and pants.
Around 11:45 on Monday night, Nicole Dryden and her husband learned that people from Jasper were headed their way. Within hours, they had taken in a group of eight Ukrainian refugees. Their Ukrainian guests are in shock: “They keep saying: ‘Two months ago, we evacuated our country. Where do we go now?’ "
“They’ve never even been outside Jasper until now,” she adds.
Jasperite Eric Daniels praised Valemount’s residents: “I’ve never met nicer people – ever,” he says. He and his wife, Katie Potter, manage a pizzeria in Jasper.
“When the fire started, it was 30 kilometres from town,” she says. “Two hours later, the whole town was ordered to evacuate. I’ve never seen a fire move that quick.”
“Our whole life – it’s gone.”
Hannah Basso broke down in tears after learning that the lodge abutting her apartment was in flames.
“I don’t even have shoes,” she says. “We left with the clothes on our backs. The last thing we took was our marriage certificate. Unfortunately, I forgot my permanent-resident documents. That’s going to be quite a problem,” she adds.
The former lawyer from Australia and her Canadian-born husband are camping at a friend’s house in Valemount.
“I feel numb and devastated,” she says, adding that a recent heat wave and continuing drought had left her and many others in Jasper with a sense of dread that the town was a tinder box.
“We’re used to fires back home. But this one moved faster than any fire I’ve ever seen.”
Swanny Pleister who manages Valemount’s Three Ranges Brewery is also feeling anxious. She took in 15 Jasper evacuees – mostly friends and family – at her farm outside Valemount. But conditions in the area, too, are threatened by wildfire.
“The problem is, we have two more fires threatening our home,” she explains.
She and her husband spent the night before their evacuees arrived installing a sprinkler system on their roof. It’s dampening their home day and night.
“One more storm, one more stupid incident, and it’s, ‘here we go, we’re all going to have to leave Valemount.’ "
Have a story to share about Jasper?
Deadly wildfires are threatening this beloved UNESCO World Heritage site, where so many Canadians and tourists have visited over the years.
The Globe is looking for the stories people want to share about their memorable Jasper experiences. Was it the site of a family trip with multi-generations? The place you got engaged? The town you discovered your aptitude for hiking? Share your story in the box below, and you can also send photos from your trips to audience@globeandmail.com.