Rains Aid Firefighters Battling Canada’s Jasper National Park Blazes
Rain and cooler conditions are helping firefighters battle a wildfire that has destroyed about a third of Jasper, a town in Alberta’s Jasper National Park, authorities said on Friday.
The town, a major tourist attraction drawing over two million visitors annually, was evacuated on Monday. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith emphasized that while weather conditions have improved, the fire remains out of control and it is still unsafe for residents to return.
As of late Thursday, the Jasper “wildfire complex,” which includes three separate fires, had spread across 36,000 hectares (about 89,000 acres). However, officials noted that mapping the fires accurately is challenging due to strong winds and extreme fire behavior.
The town council of Jasper reported that at least 358 of the 1,113 structures, or about 32 percent, have been destroyed. Approximately 10,000 residents and 15,000 visitors were evacuated from the town and national park when the evacuation order was issued.
David Leoni, one of the evacuees, shared his emotional experience of losing his home of 10 years. “Even a day and a half on from that I’m still feeling very shocked,” he told CTV. “I will gladly go back in to see what remains … for me, psychologically, it’s – I think it’s good to have some closure and to see for myself what it’s like.”
The wildfire continues to pose significant risks, but the recent rainfall has provided some much-needed relief to firefighting efforts.
