Decades of work to suppress fires in Jasper National Park may have inadvertently contributed to conditions that fed a devastating wildfire that ripped through Jasper in July, experts say. The fire, which burned in the Jasper townsite, was the largest in the national park in over 100 years, according to Parks Canada. The fire consumed more than 33,000 hectares. While fires are not uncommon in Canada’s Rocky Mountains, studies suggest the number and size of fires has significantly decreased over the last century, largely due to suppression. “We conclude fire suppression has altered the fire regime and reduced resilience of the mountain forests in Jasper National Park,” Raphael Chavardes and Lori Daniels wrote in a 2016 research paper. The paper was part of Chavardes’s master’s degree at UBC and Daniels was his supervisor. …Chavardes said, prior to Jasper becoming protected in 1907 by the federal government, the forest burned about every 40 to 60 years, on average.