A massive wildfire that has spread rapidly has destroyed half of the historic Canadian town of Jasper, officials said. The blaze remains out of control as firefighters try to save as many buildings as possible.
Entire streets in the main town of Jasper National Park in western Canada have been leveled by fire, with video showing smoking rubble where homes once stood and the charred remains of cars.
Although no fatalities were reported, about 20,000 tourists and 5,000 residents have fled the mountainous area in Alberta province that has been popular with tourists for decades.
At a news conference Thursday, a tearful Alberta Premier Danielle Smith struggled to describe the scale of the damage, but said that “potentially 30%-50%” of buildings may have been destroyed.
“There’s no denying this is the worst nightmare for any community,” he said, adding Jasper National Park has been a “source of pride” for “many generations.”
Smith became emotional as he described the park’s beauty and its significance to a community that relies heavily on tourism. About 2.5 million people visit the park, as well as nearby Banff National Park, each year.
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Karyn Decore, owner of the Maligne Lodge in Jasper, was on vacation when she learned her hotel was on fire. On Wednesday night, she received photos of the building in flames.
“I was shocked and devastated when I saw the photo,” he told the BBC. “I think it took a few days to get over the shock.”
“It’s very difficult for everyone to understand that we lost one of our properties,” he said, adding that he intends to rebuild his lodge.
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BBC journalist Wendy Hurrell was in Jasper National Park when the fires began on Monday. She drove through the night with her husband and daughter in a rush to get out of town.
“The weather was terrible – the sky turned dark red and there were strong winds, heavy rain and lightning,” he said.
“We were some of the last travellers to see Jasper in its full beauty – it will be a very long time before it recovers. It’s devastating for all of them and my heart is broken.”
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Hundreds of firefighters from around the world have been deployed to help with the effort, but officials warn the extent of the damage is still being revealed. The focus Thursday, they said, will be on tackling the fire that is engulfing the city on two sides.
Pierre Martel, director of the national fire management program at Parks Canada, said the fire started in a lightning storm and worsened late Wednesday as it was fanned by strong winds.
“At that time, it was [adalah] monster,” Martel said. “We don’t have the tools to deal with it.”
The flames reached 100 meters (330 feet) high in some places, covering “a very large amount of space in a very short time,” one official said.
Mike Ellis, Alberta’s public safety minister, said the fire was 5 km from Jasper when winds pushed it into town in “less than 30 minutes.”
“Any firefighter will tell you there’s nothing you can do when you’re facing a wall of flames like that,” he said.
“Nobody anticipated the fire coming so fast, so big, so quickly.”
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, thanked emergency services for their response to the wildfires.
“As the heartbreaking images emerge from Jasper, 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.
Environment Canada says there may be a break from the hot, dry weather that has allowed fires to grow, as rain is expected to fall by the end of Thursday.
It marks another year of difficult fire conditions for the province. Last year, 2.2 million hectares burned in Alberta between March 1 and Oct. 31.
Outside of Alberta, there are more than 45 active fires in British Columbia and fires are also burning in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Utah in the US.
Scientists have long pointed to human-caused climate change as a cause of increasingly severe natural disasters, including bushfires. (BBC/Z-3)
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