Wildfire reaches Jasper as more than 170 blazes burn across Alberta

“Today has been an exceptionally difficult day for Jasperites, incident personnel and everyone who loves Jasper,” park authorities said.

The authorities added that they are “sensitive that residents … and those with connections to Jasper want to know the state of their homes, businesses, treasures and favourite places” but that they could not provide specific information about the damage Wednesday night.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on social media late Wednesday that Alberta had requested federal assistance with the fires, adding that “we’re mobilizing every necessary resource available.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, 59 of the fires were classified as “out of control” and more than 17,500 people were estimated to be under evacuation orders, according to the Alberta government.

This summer’s outbreak of blazes comes after an unprecedented wildfire season in Canada last year, during which more than 45 million acres burned and smoke affected air quality in the country as well as large swaths of the United States.

Wildfire was driven into Jasper, a popular tourist destination in the Canadian Rockies with a population of about 4,500, on Wednesday by “strong wind gusts from the south and southeast,” according to an earlier post from Jasper National Park. “If you have not yet evacuated town you must leave now,” it urged park visitors and residents, who were first ordered to evacuate Monday.

Kimberly Getz, 38, regularly spent summer weekends in Jasper growing up and describes the town as small, friendly and “breathtakingly beautiful.” She watched the images coming out of the town in “shock and utter disbelief,” she said in a text message.

Getz’s great-grandfather, Donald “Curly” Phillips, settled in Jasper in the early 1900s and helped it become a tourist destination, building boats and lodges and opening a fishing and mountaineering business there, she said.

As the fire progresses, she’s worried about losing everything from her favorite candy store to the cabin her great-grandfather built. “It’s hard to even comprehend how much will be lost and how irreplaceable everything is,” she said.

Getz’s aunt Lorri Anne Maley-Bell said she has “a lifetime of wonderful memories made in Jasper” and credits Jasper National Park with inspiring her to become an artist. She fears for the potential loss of life as flames engulf the town and says losing archives containing local history will “hit hard many Jasperites.”

Katie Ellsworth, an incident commander with Parks Canada, told the Edmonton Journal that the wildfire “is significantly larger and more aggressive than the wildfires we’ve seen in the past few years,” and “has much closer proximity to the community.”

By 8:30 p.m. local time, only some first responders could remain in Jasper because air quality had deteriorated to a level that required “wildland firefighters and others without self contained breathing apparatuses” to evacuate to a town nearby, park authorities said on social media.

Up to 20 millimeters of rain is forecast in the next 24 hours, the park said, noting it could “help to reduce fire activity.” Earlier Wednesday, suppression efforts by helicopter bucketing were not effective and water bombers could not assist due to dangerous conditions.