Jasper National Park under wildfire evacuation order

Visitors, campers, and residents of Jasper National Park were instructed to evacuate late Monday night due to a wildfire threatening the national park in western Alberta.

An Alberta Emergency Alert issued just before 10 p.m. MT and updated afterwards stated that there is a wildfire south of town.

Both the Jasper townsite and the rest of the national park have been placed under an evacuation order.

Everyone in Jasper and Jasper National Park must evacuate immediately as the fire approaches the community, the alert mentioned.

“Everyone now is in the process of evacuating the town and all the outlying accommodation, campgrounds, every other structure and facility in Jasper National Park is under evacuation,” Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland informed Global News on Monday night.

The emergency alert initially indicated that the fire was expected to reach the community in five hours, or around 3 a.m. Tuesday, but was later updated around 11 p.m. to specify that everyone in the community needed to be out by then.

It is currently uncertain when the flames might reach the townsite.

“We’re hoping and we’re expecting that people will continue to be patient with each other and it will be an orderly evacuation,” Ireland stated.

People were advised to check the Jasper National Park Facebook page and Municipality of Jasper page for updates.

Ireland, who was not in Jasper at the time and was speaking to Global News on the phone from Crossfield, mentioned that the evacuation process has been going as well as can be expected based on reports from those on the ground.

“It’s the height of our tourist season so the entire three valley confluence was full of visitors. The hotels in town were as full as they probably get,” he said.

“But the good news is, I think, that people have listened. They have been prepared. Our own local residents are among all of those who are evacuating. It sounds like they had their 72-hour kits prepared, as we advised them to do and prepared them to do.”

Parks Canada stated that evacuations were underway from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m. Tuesday.

Evacuees were instructed to bring identification, important documents, medication, pets, and their emergency kit with them.

Anyone needing a ride out of Jasper was directed to go to the Activity Centre, Forest Park Hotel, or Maligne Lodge.

The Municipality of Jasper also declared a State of Emergency due to the wildfire.

511 Alberta reported that Parks Canada had closed both Highway 16 east of the Jasper townsite all the way to the park gates near Hinton, and the Highway 93 Icefields Parkway between Kerkeslin Campground and Athabasca Falls due to the fire.

RCMP mentioned that eastbound access to Jasper was also closed due to firefighting efforts.

Alberta Wildfire stated that travelers en-route to Jasper National Park must travel back in the direction they came from, unless directed otherwise.

The fire is within Parks Canada’s jurisdiction, but Alberta Wildfire confirmed that they had been requested to assist and were responding with ground resources and one helicopter on Monday night. Other agencies were supporting wildfire suppression efforts and evacuation support.

Alberta Wildfire assured that there was no threat to communities in Yellowhead County, nor the towns of Hinton or Edson. However, the wildfire danger in that area of Alberta was deemed extreme on Monday.

The weather forecast for Tuesday predicted a high of 28 C with 15 per cent relative humidity. “Winds from the west 20-25 km/h, shifting from the northeast 15 km/h. Crossover conditions are expected again, meaning that the temperature will be greater than the relative humidity and could allow for increased fire activity,” an update on Monday night stated.

Earlier in the evening, Parks Canada reported that fire crews and the Jasper Fire Department were responding to a wildfire around the transfer station, located approximately nine kilometres northeast of the Jasper townsite.

Drivers headed west towards B.C. were instructed to detour. RCMP specified that drivers must detour north through Grande Prairie on Highway 40 or south to Highway 1 through Banff. For those traveling from British Columbia to Alberta, the detour was to head south on Highway 1 or north on Highway 2 at that time.

The wildfire occurred amidst hot, dry weather triggering heat warnings across the province. As of Monday night, there were 170 active wildfires burning in areas under Alberta Wildfire’s jurisdiction.

A fire ban had been in effect in Jasper since July 12.

This is a breaking news story. More updates to follow…

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