Rainfall to alleviate wildfire that blazed Canada Rockies

Rainfall is expected to bring some relief to a fast-moving wildfire that ripped through the Rocky Mountain resort town of Jasper, destroying homes and businesses and threatening key infrastructure in the evacuated Alberta community.

The area saw cooler temperatures and 10 to 15mm (0.6 inches) of rainfall shortly after midnight local time, Jasper National Park said in an update on X, formerly Twitter. That should help keep fire activity low for the next 72 hours. 

“Crews will take advantage of this time to make as much progress as possible to suppress the wildfire and reduce further spread,” according to the park. “While rain in Jasper is a welcome sight, warm weather is forecasted and will increase wildfire activity. Currently the Jasper Wildfire Complex poses no threat to neighboring communities.” 

The week-old wildfire spread out of control on Monday, prompting authorities to order town residents and Jasper National Park visitors to leave. Around 25,000 people had been evacuated as of Thursday, according to government agencies. The Jasper fire, dubbed Utopia, was reported a week ago and is believed to have started from a lightning strike.

High temperatures, dry conditions and lightning storms have been plaguing much of western North America this month, causing numerous wildfires including in the Western Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.

The fire’s most significant damage to homes and businesses was on the west side of Jasper, while firefighters were able to prevent significant damage to the eastern part of the town, Jasper National Park said in an earlier post on X. Critical infrastructure including the hospital, emergency services building, schools, the activity center and wastewater treatment plant was successfully protected. 

Tourist Destination 

Jasper is at the heart of a huge national park in the Canadian Rockies that shares its name and at the northern end of the Icefields Parkway, a highway that connects the wilderness area to Banff National Park in the south. The town of 4,100 residents is a prime tourist spot and is known for its natural beauty and wildlife, including grizzly bears, elk and moose. Almost 2.5 million people visited Jasper last year, according to Parks Canada.

“Multiple structures, including a number of businesses and homes, in and around the Town of Jasper have been lost,” Parks Canada said in a Thursday statement. “Structural firefighters remain in the town and are working to save as many structures as possible and to protect critical infrastructure.” 

Canadian National Railway Co., whose link between the country’s interior and the Pacific coast passes through Jasper, suspended rail operations in what it described a “dynamic and fluid” wildfire situation in the area, according to an emailed statement.

“Early reports indicate the wildfires caused significant damage to the town,” Canada’s largest rail company said Thursday, adding that the community is home to many employees and their families.

The newly expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline passes through Jasper. The wildfires have not damaged Trans Mountain’s infrastructure and pipeline operations continue to operate, the company said in a Thursday statement. The operator is using its own firefighting equipment in Jasper and has deployed a sprinkler system to protect its facilities.

Some evacuees have ended up in Hinton, a town northeast of Jasper, that is serving as a crisis center and temporary base for the municipality of Jasper.

“There’s been fire trucks coming down the highway from communities all across the province,” Hinton Mayor Nicholas Nissen said in an interview. “I can see the lights go as they rip through town, headed quickly toward Jasper.”

A July heat wave has sparked wildfires across Western Canada. In Alberta alone, 176 wildfires were burning Thursday and 54 are out of control, according to provincial government agency Alberta Wildfire. Cooler temperatures and potential rain is expected to bring some relief in the next several days in the northern part of the province, the agency said.

Some 1,900 firefighters, contractors and support staff are fighting the Alberta blazes, according to Christie Tucker, a spokesperson for Alberta Wildfire. About 400 firefighters from Mexico, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are joining the local crews, according to Alberta’s premier.

The fires have caused deteriorating air quality across Western Canada, with nearby financial hubs Edmonton and Calgary facing unhealthy conditions, according to AirNow.gov.

Oil Sands

The blazes have prompted the curtailment of oil and gas facilities including Suncor Energy Inc.’s Firebag oil sands site, which produced more than 230,000 barrels a day of crude in June, according to Alberta Energy Regulator data. Other companies including Imperial Oil Ltd., Cenovus Energy Inc. and MEG Energy Corp. have evacuated some workers from oil sands sites. Alberta’s oil sands are the world’s third-largest crude reserves.

The equivalent of about 389,000 barrels a day of oil and more than 19,000 barrels a day of gas production was within 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of one or more wildfires that were larger than 10 hectares (25 acres) as of early Thursday, according to Alberta Energy Regulator and Alberta Wildfire data.

For several years, major fires have burned large swaths of Western Canada, razing communities and sending residents fleeing while ruining air quality across the country and into the US.

--With assistance from Shoko Oda.

(Updates with latest update from Jasper National Park from first paragraph)

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