Jasper National Park's largest wildfire in a century destroys a third of Canadian town — and could continue for months
The wildfire that has been ravaging an area of Canada known as the world's second-largest dark sky preserve has already destroyed a third of the popular tourist town of Jasper — and officials say the flames could stay ablaze for months.
The wildfire in Alberta, Canada, broke out a week ago — on the same day that the world saw the hottest day ever recorded. As of Sunday night, officials said the fire tearing through Jasper and Jasper National Park has burned an estimated 79,000 acres, about 123 square miles.
"This is the largest wildfire recorded in Jasper National Park in the last 100 years, and ensuring that residents and visitors are safe to return will take time," officials said in an update on the Parks Canada website.
"We're going to be working on this wildfire, we expect, over the next three months at least," Landon Shepherd, a deputy incident commander, said at a news conference Saturday. "What the last five years has taught us is that the fire season in Jasper tends to last well into the fall."
Late last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said that up to 50% of all buildings in Jasper had been destroyed by the flames. The latest numbers provided by the Municipality of Jasper indicate that out of the 1,113 structures within the town, 358 — about a third — have been destroyed. However, "all critical infrastructure" in the town was "successfully protected," officials said, including the hospital, library and firehall.
A map of the town's damage assessment shows many homes were among the buildings completely destroyed by the fire.
The latest update provided by officials shows that firefighters were able to "make progress" on Sunday and that responders were able to widen the control line to protect the town of Jasper from the increased fire activity that's expected to unfold later this week. They have almost completed a foot-high sprinkler line along the community to help provide additional protection against the fire.
"Weather forecasts indicate that dry conditions will make it easier for the wildfire to grow, making the progress now so important," the Parks Canada update says. "...The fire has burned over a very large area. Due to the drought conditions that existed before the fire and the high intensity of the fire itself, many hot spots exist throughout the fire's area and along the perimeter. These hot spots take extraordinary amounts of water directly applied to them in order to be fully extinguished."
The Jasper fire, currently considered to be "out of control," is one of 125 active wildfires in Alberta. Other wildfires of note being battled elsewhere in the province include the Cattail Lake Complex, the Kettle River Complex, the Semo Complex and the Algar Lake Complex fires.