By Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, St. Albert Gazette
July 26, 2024
The area of the Jasper wildfire complex is now estimated to be 36,000 hectares, though officials from Jasper National Park say mapping the fire has been challenging because of fire activity, smoke, strong winds, and relocation of incident management personnel to Hinton. Smoke has also prevented aircraft from safely flying over the area and at times obscured satellite images.
Earlier today, officials revealed that the fires to the south and north of Jasper had been driven by high winds on Wednesday and merged. An updated map provided by Jasper National Park shows the estimated perimeter of the merged wildfire.
“Future maps will change when we can map the perimeter from the air. Because the perimeter of the two wildfires have met, we are now referring to wildfires in Jasper National Park as the Jasper Wildfire Complex,” Jasper National Park officials shared in a wildfire update Thursday night.
The levels of fire activity within the 36,000 hectare complex varies widely, and there is no indication what infrastructure within that zone has been damaged, or to what extent damage has occurred.
“A complex refers to more than one wildfire. The Jasper Wildfire Complex now includes the combined North and South wildfires and the Utopia wildfire near Miette Hot Springs that started on July 19. The Utopia Wildfire was almost being held before the other wildfires started and will be reassessed on Friday, July 26,” park officials said in the update.
Officials from Jasper National Park say today’s 10-15 mm of rainfall and cooler temperatures have minimized fire activity and spread, and it is expected the precipitation will keep the fire conditions 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. While rain in Jasper is a welcome sight, warm weather is forecasted and will increase wildfire activity,” park officials said.
The Jasper Wildfire Complex currently poses no danger to surrounding communities, according to the update.
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Park officials say the Unified Command Post is now fully operating in Hinton, and the responsibility for the response is being shared between multiple agencies.