Forest fire reaches town in Canada's Jasper National Park

A forest fire at a major national park in western Canada reached an evacuated town on Wednesday evening, with the army preparing to send in reinforcements.

The fire was spreading through Jasper National Park and destroyed several buildings in the town of Jasper, which had been evacuated on Monday night, according to park officials.

"Significant loss has occurred within the townsite," a post on the park's page said on social media platform X.

"Firefighters remain in town and are working to save as many structures as possible and to protect critical infrastructure," including the Trans Mountain Pipeline, it said.

Authorities have not specified what infrastructure was destroyed.

Around 25,000 people have been evacuated due to recent forest fires in the region, which is also fighting a heat wave.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday his government had approved a request by Alberta province for federal assistance.

"We're deploying @CanadianForces resources, evacuations support, and more emergency wildfire resources to the province immediately—and we're coordinating firefighting and airlift assistance," Trudeau wrote on X.

Jasper mayor Richard Ireland told broadcaster CBC that his town was experiencing "our community's worst nightmare."

More than 400 fires have been recorded in British Columbia province on the Pacific coast and 176 in Alberta, including more than a dozen in the Fort McMurray region, the hub of oil sands development.

By Wednesday evening, "air quality had deteriorated to the point that wildland firefighters and others without self contained breathing apparatuses needed to evacuate," Jasper National Park said on X.

Around 1,900 Alberta firefighters have been deployed, assisted by personnel from Alaska and Australia.

Canada experienced its most destructive fire season in history last summer, with more than 15 million hectares burned and around 200,000 people evacuated.

© 2024 AFP