Melted chairs outside the burned Maligne Lodge after wildfires encroached into Jasper, Alta., on July 26.AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
Nails are scattered on the ground where a wooden fence once stood, charred by fire and relieved of their binding duties. A bucket of dog toys and a faded hockey stick are on the ground, under a tree, next to a stone path leading to a pit that was once a building. Red Adirondack chairs, melted at the tips, sit in front of what was once a café in Jasper, Alta., the Rocky Mountain town devastated by wildfires last week.
At the corner of Geikie Street and Miette Avenue, fire reduced the Jasper Anglican Church to ruins – an arch, chimney and tower remain, sort of – 96 years after Canada’s governor-general laid its cornerstone.
But most of Jasper, in particular its downtown, remains standing. On the sidewalk outside the church, fire spared a wooden bench dedicated to Carmela and Michele Garcea, whose family came to Canada from Italy in the 1950s and 1960s.
“In these mountains, with family & friends, we made our home,” the memorial reads.
Jasper and Jasper National Park remain closed to the public, with no timeline for re-entry, after wildfires reached the town last Wednesday. Authorities on Sunday escorted reporters on a tour of parts of town, emphasizing that much of Jasper is intact. The fire levelled about 30 per cent of Jasper’s 1,113 structures, and the majority of the damaged buildings are residential. The tour did not include the most devastated residential neighbourhoods.
A spot smoulders in the forest outside Jasper, Alta., on July 26.Amber Bracken/Reuters
Helicopters with buckets occasionally flew overhead and crews are still working to ensure the community is safe for the public to move freely. A fire north of Jasper continues to burn. The odd swirl of smoke rose from the forest in the mountains around town.
Dean MacDonald, the deputy incident commander on the wildfire, noted the rain that brought relief last week did not last long and warmer temperatures are forecast for Monday.
“Probably by tomorrow we will be back up to running flame fronts,” he said Sunday.
The wildfire complex in Jasper National Park has consumed 32,000 hectares, making it the largest burn in the park in the past 100 years. Winds picked up last Wednesday, forcing roughly 10,000 seasonal and permanent Jasper residents to evacuate, along with 15,000 visitors in the town and national park.
The Wabasso Campground, about 17 kilometres south of Jasper on Highway 93, was the first to evacuate in the early evening. Parks Canada staff cleared it within 20 minutes, before the broader evacuation order came down at 10 p.m. local time, according to Mathew Conte, the municipality of Jasper’s fire chief.
On Connaught Drive, Jasper’s main drag, a pile of rubble rests between the Jasper Curry Place and the Jasper Brewing Co. Mr. Conte said some of buildings in the row were on fire so authorities decided to plow down a cluster of businesses, with residences above the storefronts, to stop the spread. Crews knocked down the strip around 3 a.m. Thursday.
“The town is fairly older,” Mr. Conte said. “A lot of businesses still had cedar shake roofs. So that ended up actually becoming a problem for the ember shower that came with the wildfire.”
Early assessment of damaged buildings
in Jasper due to recent wildfire
As of July 27
Destroyed
Visible damage
No visible damage
Jasper
Athabasca River
1 KM
ALBERTA
the globe and mail, Source: jasper-alberta.ca
Early assessment of damaged buildings in Jasper
due to recent wildfire
As of July 27
Destroyed
Visible damage
No visible damage
Jasper
Athabasca River
1 KM
ALBERTA
the globe and mail, Source: jasper-alberta.ca
Early assessment of damaged buildings in Jasper due to recent wildfire
As of July 27
Destroyed
Visible damage
No visible damage
Jasper
Athabasca River
1 KM
ALBERTA
the globe and mail, Source: jasper-alberta.ca
Cans of Lucky Lager, mangled bicycle tires, the wreckage of kitchens and the innards of the buildings provide hints at what was once here – a liquor store, a bike shop, a restaurant, a cannabis store and a Subway. A municipal garbage can and blue recycle bin were also shoved into the wreckage.
Parks Canada said the fires in Jasper National Park could burn for months. Melissa Story, a spokesperson with Alberta Wildfire, on Sunday said nearly 200 firefighters from South Africa are expected to help with the efforts in Jasper and other wildfires in the province. That is on top of the support staff flying in from Australia, New Zealand and eastern Canadian provinces such as Ontario and Quebec, she added.
“This was a good weekend for firefighting,” Ms. Story told reporters Sunday. “But the hard work will be continuing.”
Donald Schroll is the owner of Jasper Pet Outpost, a pet store that survived the blaze, along with his nearby apartment. Mr. Schroll is in Edmonton, hopping from house to house with his partner.
“We have a lot of survivor’s guilt,” he said. “Everything feels really hectic because so many of our closest friends and clients have completely lost their homes. But we just want to be back home.”
Most of the dogs he was caring for were picked up when officials ordered everyone out of Jasper. However, Mr. Schroll had three of them with him when he arrived in Edmonton. “Reuniting those dogs with their parents made all of our effort worth it,” he said Sunday.
His own dog, Jasper, was a 19-year-old miniature American Eskimo that was put down just days before the wildfire entered the town.
“We always joke with everybody that they named the town after him. I’m just glad he didn’t have to see us deal with this. He was deaf, blind and could barely walk,” Mr. Schroll said. “Evacuating with our own little guy, while already having the responsibility to take other people’s animals with us, would have just been torture for him.”
Back in Jasper, Mr. MacDonald, the deputy incident commander, told reporters the wildfire approached the town as a wall of fire from the south.
But on the north side of Highway 16, closer to town, the intensity dropped thanks to protection efforts. The forest on the edge of town had been thinned and was populated with more deciduous trees, Mr. MacDonald said. That allowed the fire to drop from the crown – the tree tops – to the ground.
Straight strips of sandy ash decorate the forest floor, the remnants of trees that burned so hot they were reduced to nothingness, Mr. MacDonald said. They may have already been laying on the ground or were standing dead prior to the fire’s approach.
Charred trees also litter the ground, with hiking trails visible in the forest. Mr. MacDonald cautioned that the burned areas are dangerous, because the trees are unstable. Trees like these, at other fires, have fallen on firefighters and the public.
“Their roots are burnt out,” he said. “It could be a serious to fatal injury.”