Photo Credit: Jasper National Parks, Park Canada Twitter/X

Jasper Map Shows Extent of Devastation

July 28, 2024

3 minutes read

The municipality of Jasper has published a high-resolution map and a list of properties showing the structures destroyed in the past week. The affected buildings include single-family homes, apartments, townhouses, a hostel, a church, a senior’s manor, a gas station, and other businesses.

Parks Canada estimated that 30 percent of Jasper’s structures have been damaged by the wildfire, with 358 out of the town’s 1,113 structures destroyed. The map also shows an entire block of homes destroyed but a single house is still standing.

The municipality of Jasper shared this information on their website:

Current as of 12:30pm, July 27, 2024

In addition to the Unified Command of Parks Canada, the Municipality of Jasper, many agencies are providing resources to assist the response efforts. This includes personnel from Alberta Wildfire, the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, the Canadian Armed Forces, ATCO Power, Telus, CN Rail, numerous municipal fire departments and many many more. We are grateful to our partners, the town of Hinton and businesses for all of the support during this continued incident.

Wildfire Status

The fire remains classified as out of control, and will be until a perimeter has been secured or the fire is extinguished.

Recent fire activity has been low. Today will see a return to slightly warmer and drier weather. Some areas, which did not receive rain, may see an increase in fire behaviour in the coming days.

Yesterday, an initial aerial survey of the perimeter was conducted and the fire size has been revised down to approximately- 32,000 hectares. This makes it the largest wildfire in more than 100 years in Jasper National Park

Crews are working along the perimeter closest to town and are planning for the creation of containment lines. Teams are focusing on securing spot fires in priority areas such as the Pyramid Bench Area near the townsite.

Bucketing will be taking place near Marmot Basin today. We do not have a current assessment of the impact to Marmot Basin Infrastructure.

Jasper Townsite

Fire suppression has been progressing well, and we are anticipating that all remaining fires within the townsite will be extinguished today.

Damage assessment has begun on utility, road and bridge infrastructure.

Power is being restored to parts of the downtown core and critical infrastructure today. This will help to speed up further damage assessment and recovery.

Evacuee transit through Jasper National Park

We know that many evacuees are hoping to be able to travel through Jasper National Park from the Valemount area to Hinton in order to reunite with friends and family. Teams are developing a plan to facilitate this, and we will share more information as soon as it is available.

Campgrounds and Parks Canada Accommodations

Currently, reservations up until August 6 have been cancelled for front country and backcountry camping, as well as forParks Canada accommodations. This date will be reassessed once assessments of the Jasper townsite and outlying infrastructure have been completed.

There is no need for further action on the part of visitors for cancellations and refunds for Parks Canada campgrounds and accommodations. Refunds will be handled through the Parks Canada Reservation System automatically, this will ensure that you receive a full refund.

The status of Parks Canada campgrounds has not yet been confirmed. We will share this information when we are able to.

Unauthorized access to closure on Highway 93:

We are receiving reports of increased numbers of violations of the closure of Jasper National Park along the icefields parkway. While there is no risk of wildfire in these areas, it is critical that visitors do not enter the park at this time.

There are no services available in the park as all resources are engaged in responding to the Jasper Wildfire Complex. Jasper Dispatch operations have been impacted, search and rescue services are unavailable, and no road rescue response is possible. If you experience an emergency, contact Parks Canada Dispatch at 780-852-6155.

An FAQ page has been added to the website. Please visit jasper-alberta.ca for continued updates.

The Alberta Government is hosting a Telephone Online town hall for Albertans who have been evacuated, to receive updates on the wildfire situation and answers to their questions.