Wildfire tears through Jasper, leaving extensive damage

Alberta’s Jasper National Park and it’s townsite is facing an uphill battle after two wildfires raced into the community Wednesday night causing extensive damage.

Parks Canada says the fire has caused significant losses within the town, and the social media account for Fairmont’s famous Jasper Park Lodge says the flames had reached the hotel’s grounds.

As the blaze consumed more fuel, crews said the air quality dropped to dangerous levels prompting fire crews without proper equipment to leave for Hinton.

Richard Ireland is the Mayor of Jasper and spoke on the latest wildfire earlier this morning, mentioning how difficult it will be to see the damage done to a place he’s called home for decades.

Ireland continued by saying this is the most tragic thing to happen in the towns history.

Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith addressed the public this afternoon and mentioned all evacuees will be able to stay in Calgary, Edmonton and Grande Prairie with different accommodations alongside emergency funds.

Smith gave Albertans a rough estimate on the next steps in regards to rebuilding the community, mentioning nearly 30-50% of all structures have been torn down from the fire.

In an update at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Jasper National Park said there have not been any injuries reported.