One of two wildfires threatening the historic resort town raged into Jasper Wednesday, consuming homes and businesses in a wall of flame.
The wildfire, whipped into a firestorm by intense winds, burned with such intensity and speed, it sent plumes of ash and flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air.
James Eastham, a Parks Canada wildfire information officer, said firefighters were faced with a wall of flame that proved impossible to contain.
“Fire behaviour was intense,” Eastham said in an interview Wednesday night after the flames entered the townsite.
“Fire crews were witnessing 300 to 400 foot flames in a fully-involved, continuous crown fire and a fire spread rate of approximately 15 metres per minute.”
The extent of the damage is unknown but park officials say numerous buildings in the historic townsite in the heart of Jasper National Park have been lost.
Images and videos shared overnight on social media showed multiple buildings, including homes and businesses, consumed.
Park officials have reported “significant loss” in Jasper but have not detailed the damages to specific buildings or neighbourhoods.
Crews were fighting to save as many buildings as possible, officials said.
Critical infrastructure, including the wastewater treatment plant, the hospital, communications facilities, the Trans Mountain Pipeline were among the buildings under threat.
The fight has been a battle waged on numerous fronts.
Jasper was under threat from the north and south, and mandatory evacuation orders were issued Monday as the fires flared, forcing as many as 25,000 residents and visitors out.
The northern fire was spotted five kilometres from Jasper earlier Wednesday but continued to draw closer to the town. The southern fire had been reported eight kilometres out from town but within a matter of hours, it had reached the outskirts of the community.
The situation only grew worse as the hours passed.
Structural firefighters are in Jasper, Alta., trying to protect buildings and critical infrastructure after worsening air quality forced firefighters without self-contained breathing apparatuses to evacuate. James Eastham, a Parks Canada wildfire information officer, told reporters Wednesday night that high winds and the speed at which the fire came into town are impeding firefighting efforts.
Bucketing efforts by helicopters failed. Crews using heavy equipment to build fireguards couldn’t complete the work before having to pull back for safety.
Water bombers couldn’t help due to dangerous flying conditions.
A last-ditch effort to use controlled burns to reroute the fire to natural barriers like Highway 16 and the Athabasca River failed.
First responders were eventually forced out of town.
Only structural firefighters equipped with personal respirators remained.
“The fire made a significant push driven by winds and very receptive fuels,” Eastham said. “The fire came into town very quickly.”
Weeks of relentless heat made for tinder box conditions in the forest, a volatile mix of extremely dry fuels that fed the flames toward the community, he said.
A wildfire that had threatened the Alberta mountainside townsite of Jasper for days finally reached it on Wednesday evening, with flames consuming multiple buildings including the Maligne Lodge. Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland spoke with CBC News Network about feeling helpless ‘in the face of nature, which is just so powerful.’
When the flames reached the townsite, it was an impossible battle, even with hundreds of people and machines on the ground and in the sky working to safeguard the community, he said.
“We got as many resources as we were able to here as fast as we could to respond to this fire,” he said.
“Unfortunately, given the conditions and given the fire behaviour today, there was nothing that those resources could do to prevent the spread of the fire into the town.”
The forecast for Thursday offers some promise of relief for beleaguered crews.
Eric Van Lochem, an operational meteorologist with Environment Canada, said significant rainfall is expected in the region.
Up to 30 mm of rain is expected by the end of day. He said it’s a marked change following a few weeks of extremely hot and incredibly dry weather across the province.
“There were some pretty good showers and thunderstorms that have been streaming through the area and that should continue,” he said.
He said some showers began falling overnight but getting accurate data from Jasper is challenging as the weather station for the community has been down since Wednesday night. Lochem could not say if it was damaged in the fire.
The provincial government has asked Ottawa for more firefighting resources, aerial support to move crews and equipment and help evacuating remote communities.
In a post to social media late Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa had approved Alberta’s request for federal assistance and that the federal government was “mobilizing every necessary resource available.”
Karyn Decore, whose family owned Maligne Lodge for more than 60 years, is mourning the loss of the business and heartbroken for her staff — many of whom come from countries around the world. The lodge was among the buildings burned Wednesday night.
Said she feels anxious for her employees and her neighbours, and feels deep frustration at the damage done to her community.
She’s owner of Maligne Lodge on the southern edge of town, one of the buildings destroyed Wednesday as the fire moved in.
Decore found out about the destruction of the lodge from a photograph shared by a friend and later posted to social media. The image shows the hotel consumed in sheets of orange flame.
The federal government acted too late in providing aid on the front lines, she said.
“Our local firefighters are amazing, our Alberta firefighters are amazing,” she said in an interview with CBC News on Thursday.
“My question is, where was the federal government Monday night when they knew there was a mandatory evacuation?
“It breaks my heart … and it’s sad to hear that finally, last night when it was too late, they were going to send in the Canadian armed guard.”
Decore said she’s still coming to terms with the loss of her family business, which was purchased by her parents.
“There’s so many wonderful families, generational families and businesses in town, and it’s just so sad to know that so many families and people have lost not just their belongings, but their livelihood, and the beautiful park.
“And it’s sad for Canadians too, because this is a national treasure…it’s our park.”
