SD70 Dude poster

[SD70Dude]

Thank you.  It's going to take a long time for Jasper to recover.  I don't live in Jasper anymore and so am not affected but many of my old friends and co-workers are now homeless, some have lost everything that didn't fit in their suitcase or car.

In the leadup to these fires we got about a week of extremely hot and dry weather, I'm talking daytime highs of between 30 and 35 C (for you Americans human body temperature is about 37 C) and windy, by western Canadian standards it was quite the heat wave and it left the forests tinder dry.

Everything happened very rapidly, two separate wildfires started on July 22, one near the garbage transfer site and Trans Mountain pipeline pumping station (a few miles northeast of Jasper along the railway and Highway 16) and the other farther to the south near Athabasca Falls. These fires impacted two of the three roads leading out of town so the decision was made to evacuate that night. Pretty much the entire summer population of a busy tourist town left on the same two-lane highway overnight.  On July 24 conditions worsened significantly, rapidly driving the south fire toward the town and whipping it into a firestorm, one firefighter described flames hundreds of feet tall and it eventually generated its own pyrocumulonimbus thunderstorm. Things got bad enough that firefighters were forced to pull back and at the worst point last night only those with breathing apparatuses remained in the townsite. The latest updates from the Province and Parks Canada are that 358 out of 1,113 buildings within the townsite have been damaged or destroyed, with the vast majority of destruction being to the west of Miette Avenue. The Cabin Creek area now resembles the destruction of Lytton, British Columbia a few years ago, with whole blocks of houses burned to the ground.

To my knowledge no human lives have been lost to this fire so far, and essential infrastructure like the water treatment plant, hospital, schools and other public buildings have survived.  Fairmont Hotels has also indicated that most of the Jasper Park Lodge has survived (it's across the river from the townsite) including the main building, though their grounds, golf course and smaller structures have taken heavy damage.

Here's links to a map of the damage by property and a status list of each fixed address, and a couple photos of the undamaged VIA/Rocky Mountaineer passenger station and the modern CN bunkhouse, both of which were rumoured to have burned but have in fact survived.

https://www.jasper-alberta.ca/Home/DownloadDocument?docId=2ad8c397-5171-41ce-82d5-d95528db2ba5

https://www.jasper-alberta.ca/Home/DownloadDocument?docId=9c76be2a-c66b-4f3b-90aa-a8a9016292fe

[CMStPnP]

Sorry to hear about Jasper, Alberta fire damage.    Still remember my visit more than 10 years ago to ride the train to Prince Rupert.   Heartbreaking to watch on TV.   Hopefully that city recovers.