Jasper National Park is closed due to wildfires 2024 until further notice. The raging fires have reached the town of Jasper and resulted in buildings engulfed in flames before being burnt to the ground. Significant damage is being reported in this legendary area of southwestern Alberta in Canada.
Jasper National Park Closed Due to Wildfires 2024 Until Further Notice: Travel Alert
Updates to the wildfires have been posted at the official Internet web site of Parks Canada. The “air quality had deteriorated to the point that wildland firefighters and others without self contained breathing apparatuses needed to evacuate to Hinton”, according to one update from yesterday, Wednesday, July 24, 2024 at 8:30 in the evening Mountain Daylight Time. “Structural firefighters remain in town and are working to save as many structures as possible and to protect critical infrastructure, including the wastewater treatment plant, communications facilities, the Trans Mountain Pipeline and others.”
Meanwhile, “I write to you today with profound sorrow as we begin to come to terms with the devastating impact of last night’s wildfire that has ravaged our beloved community. The destruction and loss that many of you are facing and feeling is beyond description and comprehension; my deepest sympathies go out to each of you”, according to an official evacuation order that was issued by Richard Ireland, who is the current mayor of the municipality of Jasper. “Our first priority continues to be your safety and well-being. The Incident Management Team together with responders on the ground, continue to work valiantly to protect our town — our home — and to coordinate supports for evacuees in other communities.”
The wildfires remain out of control at the time this article was written. No injuries have been reported.
The latest report from earlier today, Thursday, July 25, 2024 with regard to the wildfire situation itself from Parks Canada is as follows:
Yesterday, driven by winds with gusts upwards of 100 kilometers an hour, the north and south fire both spread towards the town of Jasper and have merged together. At this time we do not have an updated size.
With today’s rain and cooler temperatures, fire activity is significantly subdued. However, it is important to note that the fire is still out of control and significant work remains before conditions are safe enough to allow for limited re-entry into the park.
Crews are taking advantage of today’s conditions to make progress on containing the fire and the community, before conditions return to hot and dry.
Structural fire protection units are still fighting fires within the town and continue to deal with fire moving from one building to another. However, all critical infrastructure in Jasper was confirmed to be successfully protected — including the hospital, emergency services building, schools, activity centre, and wastewater treatment plant. Still, some homes and businesses have clearly been completely destroyed — and the fear is that the percentage of damaged or destroyed structures could be as high as 50 percent of the municipality.
The fire also damaged a number of bridges around the town and throughout the national park — including the Moberly Bridge and the Old Fort Point Bridge. Bridges on the Icefields Parkway will need to be assessed for structural damage as well. These impacts will slow down access to the Maligne Lake and Highway 93; and time will be needed for a full damage assessment to take place in these areas.
Reaction on Social Media
One can feel the heartbreak and loss from the photographs, videos, and texts that have been posted on social media.
Large forest fire in #Jasper National Park in Alberta, #Canada pic.twitter.com/e2ZgYmEJia
— Uncensored News (@Uncensorednewsw) July 24, 2024
The photo circulating is of Jasper-Maligne Lodge, here is what it looked like before:#abfires #jasper pic.twitter.com/RJLV9DR6iK
— Small Town Alberta (@smalltownbrta) July 25, 2024
Hearing the news from Jasper is absolutely devastating, and then my mom sends me this photo of the fire approaching Golden BC. Our house is on this hillside. I can’t wrap my head around this. #bcfire #abfire pic.twitter.com/BAivWs7otK
— s (@lilsvlegz) July 25, 2024
More footage of structures on fire in Jasper, AB
This is awful! pic.twitter.com/EkQLpSW858
— Chivostovskaya (@SchwabenTruckin) July 25, 2024
There are no words. Jasper is burned to the ground. pic.twitter.com/lV8koLhzUR
— Ryan Jespersen (@ryanjespersen) July 25, 2024
Final Boarding Call
This grave situation has evoked grim reminders of the disastrous wildfires that destroyed a significant portion of the town of Fort McMurray and surrounding areas back in May of 2016. When those wildfires were finally declared under control on Tuesday, July 5, 2016, approximately 1,500,000 acres of land in Alberta and Saskatchewan were burned — and 2,400 homes and buildings were destroyed — in the costliest disaster in the history of Canada at that time. Please read the article for more details on just how dire was the situation. A Christmas Miracle video from WestJet Airways that was released later that year will surely bring at least a tear to your eye.
I visited both Jasper National Park and Banff National Park during the celebration of Canada as a confederation for 150 years back in 2017, when anyone could visit any of the national parks free of charge during the entire year because admission fees were temporarily suspended. Please click here for links to some of the articles ad photographs of my experiences in the Rocky Mountains of Canada.
Seeing merely a fraction of the destruction from this pristine and natural area is saddening to me — but I understand that no fatalities or injuries were reported as a result of this situation, thankfully.
My thoughts and prayers are with the people of the municipality of Jasper and with Jasper National Park.
All photographs ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
