“We’re preparing for challenging conditions today as a cold front moves in from B.C. and the winds are going to shift. This will change the intensity of several of the wildfires in Alberta as well as the direction that they may be moving”
Thousands of people continue to flee wildfires and escape Jasper National Park via neighbouring B.C. amid concerns changing weather could lead to the situation worsening in the days to come.
Several wildfires in the park worsened late Monday, prompting an evacuation alert from Parks Canada that is estimated to have impacted 25,000 people, including town residents, seasonal staff, and visitors as well as residents of nearby First Nation communities.
“One of Canada’s most iconic natural and cultural landscapes is on fire,” Alan Fehr, the superintendent of Jasper National Park, said on Tuesday.
Parks Canada said it used aircraft to assess wildfires from the air early Tuesday morning and that crews have protection measures around critical infrastructure and also used helicopters to extinguish fires in high-priority areas. More firefighters and aircraft are expected to arrive later Tuesday and in the coming days. Alberta Wildfire has been called into the national park to assist with efforts.
An unknown number of people hiking in the backcountry have been instructed to reach a trailhead and contact Parks Canada as soon as they are able.
The evacuation alert came around 10 p.m. Monday, forcing the evacuation to be carried out in darkness and on short notice.
Evacuees were routed to B.C. after highways heading east and south were closed.
“The issue is the severity of wildfire activity and evacuations in B.C. proper,” Stephen Lacroix, managing director of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, said Tuesday.
“British Columbia has been very gracious in facilitating the movement of Albertans through their province and actually helping us with a collection point in Valemount. But, they had no capacity to house Albertans.”
B.C. itself is dealing with more than 400 active wildfires, including 100 that started in the past 24 hours, according to Tuesday’s provincial situation report.
Buses with Jasper evacuees were departing from Valemount — a village municipality of about 1,000 people around 120 kilometres west of Jasper — for Calgary early Tuesday, with some stopping in Kamloops.
Later in the day, buses were also arranged from Prince George — about a three-hour drive west of Valemount — to Grande Prairie.
One bus with room for up to 45 passengers is also scheduled to depart Jasper bound for Edmonton.
The Alberta government has asked evacuees to register and check in at one of two reception centres — one in Grande Prairie, the other in Calgary.
“It’s a challenging time for all impacted,” said Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis. “Evacuation orders are not made lightly and are in place to protect people.”
‘Wall-to-wall traffic’
Evacuees had to travel west into B.C. before looping south and then east back into Alberta via safer routes.
“It’s wall-to-wall traffic,” Edmonton resident Carolyn Campbell told The Canadian Press in a phone interview from her vehicle.
“(The smoke) is pretty thick. We’ve got masks in the car.”
Campbell said it took hours to move just seven kilometres along the crowded Highway 16.
Lacroix said there were no reports of injuries or traffic collisions that occurred during the overnight evacuation process.
There was some confusion and panic over the initial evacuation alert that came late Monday, which indicated the fire would reach the Jasper townsite in five hours.
That was updated 50 minutes later to clarify residents were being given five hours to evacuate.
It’s not yet clear how the error occurred.
Mounties are going door-to-door in the Jasper townsite to ensure evacuation orders are being followed.
“It is not just the stress of the evacuation but the timing itself,” said Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland. “This is an extremely complex situation. It’s rapidly evolving and there are very many moving parts.”
Ellis said patients at both the town’s major health-care centre and long-term care facilities have all been evacuated.
Cause to be confirmed
Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said the Jasper area is facing multiple wildfires as of early Tuesday.
That includes one fire that was about 12 kilometres south of the townsite burning on both sides of the Athabasca River.
The cause of that fire had yet to be confirmed, but Loewen said he expected it was caused by lightning.
As of mid-Tuesday, there were 175 active wildfires across the province, with 55 of those being classified as out of control and expected to continue growing.
Loewen said there have been 930 wildfires provincewide since the start of the year with just under half of them, or 440, coming in July alone.
He emphasized there is a fire ban in effect across the entire forest protection area.
“Preventable wildfires put a strain on our resources and the people who are working hard to protect the province.”
Lightning has been the cause of 88, or just over half, of active wildfires in Alberta with the cause of 82 other fires still under investigation. Five fires have been found to have been human-caused.
‘Challenging conditions’
The evacuation comes amid a provincewide heat wave that has seen multiple temperature records broken amid continued temperatures exceeding 30 C.
After a generally clear start to summer, wildfire smoke began clouding out Alberta skies around much of the province this week.
That smoke has been thick enough to shade parts of the province from those high temperatures and limit the growth of fires. But that could soon change.
“We’re preparing for challenging conditions today as a cold front moves in from B.C. and the wind is going to shift,” said Christie Tucker with Alberta Wildfire.
“This will change the intensity of several of the wildfires in Alberta as well as the direction that they may be moving.”
Temperatures in parts of the province are forecast to dip late Wednesday into Thursday.
“The past few weeks have been tough,” said Loewen.
“We will likely have more hard days ahead of us.”
— with files from The Canadian Press