Thousands flee Jasper National Park as wildfire threatens township, prompts highway closures

By Dean Bennett & David Boles
The Canadian Press in CBC News
July 22, 2024
Category: Forest Fires
Region: Canada, Canada West

About 4,700 residents of the Alberta mountain town of Jasper and visitors to Jasper National Park have been forced to evacuate after a wildfire roared into the area late Monday night. People were forced to flee west into British Columbia with little notice over mountain roads through darkness, soot and ash. Photos and video shared on social media depicted a long line of cars and trucks, headlights on, red tail lights blinking, heading out bumper-to bumper as the deep blue night sky darkened. …The Jasper townsite — and the park’s main east-west artery Highway 16 — were caught in a fiery pincer. Fires threatening from the northeast cut off highway access east to Edmonton. Another fire roaring up from the south forced the closure of the north-south Icefields Parkway. That left one route open — west to B.C. …The evacuation alert was sent just after 10 p.m. MT. The Municipality of Jasper declared a state of emergency shortly after.

 

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