'Monster' fires may have destroyed half of historic Canadian town

Nadine Yousif & Ana Faguy - BBC News, Toronto & Washington
Fri, July 26, 2024 


Huge, fast-moving wildfires have destroyed up to half of the historic Canadian town of Jasper, officials say, as firefighters try to save as many buildings as possible.

Entire streets have been levelled by the blazes in Alberta province, with video showing smouldering rubble where homes once stood.

Cooling temperatures brought some relief on Thursday, but park authorities said the fires were still out of control and further warm weather was forecast.

Meanwhile, there are hundreds of active blazes in neighbouring British Columbia, while fires are burning in western US states including California and Utah.

While no deaths have been reported, some 20,000 tourists and 5,000 residents have fled the mountainous area in Alberta province - a hugely popular tourist spot.

Some 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) of land has so far been affected, Jasper National Park reported late on Thursday night local time - adding that neighbouring communities were not at risk.

It said that efforts to map the fires had been complicated by factors including strong winds, the extreme nature of the fire, and smoke.


[BBC]

During a news conference on Thursday, a tearful Alberta Premier Danielle Smith struggled at times to recount the scale of the damage, but said "potentially 30 to 50%" of buildings had been destroyed.

"There is no denying that this is the worst nightmare for any community," she said, adding that Jasper National Park had been "a source of pride" for many generations.

Ms Smith became visibly emotional as she described the beauty of the park and its significance to the community, which relies largely on tourism. Some 2.5 million people visit the park, and nearby Banff National Park, each year.

Rail, phone and power services in the area have been affected, CBC News reported.

Karyn Decore, the owner of the Maligne Lodge in Jasper, was on holiday when she learned her hotel had burned down. On Wednesday night, she received a photograph of the building in flames.

"I was horrified and devastated when I saw that photo," she told the BBC. "I think it's going to take a couple of days for the shock to wear down."

"It's really hard for everyone to comprehend that we lost one of our properties," she said, adding that she intended to rebuild the lodge.

Jasper has been a popular tourist resort for decades (file image) [Tourism Jasper ]

BBC journalist Wendy Hurrell was in Jasper National Park when the fires began to burn on Monday. She drove through the night with her husband and daughter in a rush to leave town.

"The storm was ferocious - the skies went dark red and there were whipping winds, fierce rain and lightning," she said.

"We are some of the last travellers to see Jasper in its full beauty - it will be a very long time before it will recover. It's utterly devastating for them all and my heart is breaking."

Hundreds of firefighters from around the world have been deployed to help with the response, but officials warn the extent of the damage is still emerging. The focus on Thursday, they said, was on containing the towering flames which engulfed the town from two sides.

Pierre Martel, director for the national fire management programme at Parks Canada, said the fire was started by a lightning storm and escalated late on Wednesday as it was fanned by powerful winds.

"It [was] just a monster at that point," Mr Martel said. "There are no tools we have in our tool box to deal with it."

The flames reached 100m (328ft) high in some places, covering "an inordinate amount of space in a very little amount of time", one official said.

Some 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) of land has so far been affected, Jasper National Park reported [BBC]

Mike Ellis, Alberta's minister for public safety, said the fire was 5km (3 miles) outside of Jasper when it was pushed by the winds to the town in "less than 30 minutes".

"Any firefighter will tell you there is little to nothing you can do when you have a wall of flames coming at you like that," he said.

"Nobody anticipated that fire to come so fast, so large and so quickly."

Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister, thanked the emergency services for their response to the wildfires.

"As the heartb

reaking images from Jasper emerge, I want to thank the brave first responders who are in Alberta right now, fighting to save every home and every community they can," he said.

This marks another year of difficult fire conditions for the province. Last year, a record 2.2 million hectares burned in Alberta between 1 March and 31 October.
Other parts of western Canada and the US hit by fires

In British Columbia, the province neighbouring Alberta to the west, more than 400 wildfires have been burning and dozens of evacuation orders have been issued.

In the US, more than 3,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the state of California due to the Park Fire, which continues to rage out of control.

A man has been arrested in connection with the blaze, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire, said.

The states of Oregon, Montana and Utah also continue to deal with wildfires.

The overall number of fires has decreased around the world over the last two decades.

But researchers say climate change could bring more lightning to forests in northern reaches of the globe, increasing the risk of wildfires.

With additional reporting from Eloise Alanna and Ottilie Mitchell

How is climate change linked to extreme weather?

Why is the world getting warmer?

Fire numbers fall in B.C. as blaze near Golden destroys homes, spurs evacuation

Brieanna Charlebois and Chuck Chiang
Thu, July 25, 2024 


Three employees at Canadian Timberframes near Golden, B.C., had no warning when a nearby wildfire jumped the Columbia River and "barrelled through" nearby homes, the company's co-owner said.

"The fire was out of control. The winds changed. It came so fast," Stephanie Bowes said in an interview on Thursday.

"We weren't even in part of the evacuation order," she noted, although the order did come shortly after as the employees were helping to fight the fire.

The Town of Golden, B.C., confirmed Thursday afternoon about six homes were lost in the fire burning south of the community, but said "assessments are still underway to determine the extent of the damage."

It said in an earlier social media post that the blaze, known as the Dogtooth Forest Service Road fire, had spread north, but rain and a northern wind were expected to help the fire fight.

The BC Wildfire Service said that a trend of cooler weather across much of the province had also resulted in a dip in the number of fires burning and allowed crews an opportunity to make progress on some of the approximately 420 active blazes.

It's the first time fire numbers have dropped in weeks.

However, the service said the fires of note — those that pose a threat to people or property or are highly visible — had increased to five, with the addition of the Dogtooth fire.

The BC Wildfire Service said Thursday afternoon that the blaze had grown from 1.33 square kilometres in size to 54.5 square kilometres, although the town said most of that growth happened on Wednesday.

"No injuries or loss of life have been reported for residents or incident responders," the town said.

Bowes said she and her husband, with whom she owns the timber-framed homes business, were at their cottage in Anglemont, B.C., about 300 kilometres away, when their workers said the blaze had "engulfed" trees around the work site on Wednesday.

Her husband immediately rushed back.

She said the business remained intact thanks to its cement retaining walls and the "tireless" work of wildfire crews.

"The fire is still out of control, but it seems to be in control around our property. There's just smouldering fires that they're continuously putting out throughout the property," she said, noting light rains and wind had brought some reprieve Thursday.

"I'm just so very thankful and grateful that we have been able to come out of this where a lot of houses and homes and properties have not and my heart goes out to everybody."

The Town of Golden's website said authorities were focused on "saving as many structures as possible" from the Dogtooth fire, which prompted evacuation orders on Wednesday for properties along the Columbia River as it runs beside Highway 95.

In an update Thursday afternoon, the town said the evacuation order for the properties on the east side of the highway was rescinded and replaced with an alert. More than 1,000 properties remained on alert, while 28 properties on the west side of the river remained on evacuation order.

The update also said Highway 95 had reopened, but access to the areas under evacuation order would be restricted.

Despite the improved weather, about 230 fires continue to burn out of control in the province, including a cluster in southeastern B.C., a region that has seen thousands of lightning strikes in a series of thunderstorms. The service said that region continues to be warm and dry.

In central and northern B.C., the wildfire service said rain and a break from warmer-than-usual weather are providing a much-needed respite.

The service said that in the past week at least 263 fires had been declared out, and at least 124 brought under control.

The cooler weather brought highs in the low to mid-20s in areas including Kamloops, Kelowna and Lytton, where temperatures surpassed 40 C just days ago.

Temperatures in the northern Interior, including Prince George and Williams Lake, did not get above the mid-teens.

B.C. firefighters had been battling a spike in wildfires since the weekend, when dry weather and a heat wave were followed by tens of thousands of lightning strikes. There were fewer than 100 fires burning on July 8.

Among the most severe wildfires in the province is the 225-square-kilometre Shetland Creek blaze near Spences Bridge, which has destroyed about 20 structures in the Venables Valley, including at least six homes.

But the Village of Ashcroft said in a notice that it had rescinded its evacuation alert for all properties in the area.

Another fire of note is the four-square-kilometre Aylwin Creek blaze south of Silverton in the Central Kootenay region, which has triggered an evacuation order for the entire village along with 17 nearby properties.

A few kilometres to the north, a further 16 properties have been ordered evacuated outside the community of New Denver due to the Wilson Creek wildfire.

The Regional District of Central Kootenay has also upgraded an evacuation alert to an order for the Argenta and Johnsons Landing areas due to the Argenta Creek blaze. The order spans 191 properties on the northeast shore of Kootenay Lake.

On Vancouver Island, the Old Man Lake wildfire burns out of control about nine kilometres north of Sooke.

That fire, at about 1.7 square kilometres in size, has seen some growth, but the spread has been "away from any structures or critical infrastructure," Julia Caranci with the Coastal Fire Centre said on an updated post on YouTube.

The Capital Regional District says the fire is burning a few kilometres south of the Sooke Lake Reservoir, which is part of the water supply for about 350,000 people in Greater Victoria.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2024.

Brieanna Charlebois and Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press