The big wildfire news of July was the devastating wildfire in Jasper, Alberta. This interface wildfire resulted in widespread structure loss in the small mountain community, and tragically an Alberta wildland firefighter passed away while responding.
As a former Alberta wildland firefighter and frequent visitor to Jasper, this incident hits home for me. In this post, I will discuss the wildfire, how events unfolded, and think about some important lessons.
Jasper's Wildfire Risk
Jasper is an isolated town in Jasper National Park, located in the heavily forested Athabasca River valley in the Rocky Mountains. The town is surrounded by forests dominated by dead pine trees left in the wake of the Mountain Pine Beetle outbreak, which constitute a significant wildfire risk to the town. Wildfire management in this area is led by Parks Canada, which has led major wildfire risk mitigation projects in these pine forests around Jasper.
Events Leading up to the Wildfire in Jasper
The Jasper wildfire was detected on the evening of July 22. After a very warm and dry July, several thunderstorms passed through BC and Alberta, leading to multiple ignitions throughout the National Parks. The Jasper wildfire was detected approximately 10km south of town, while another wildfire occurred 2km northeast of town. Warm, dry and windy conditions were expected for the next few days, and these wildfires were quickly identified as potential threats to Jasper. Parks Canada quickly issued an evacuation alert for residents of the town. Alberta and BC wildfire agencies were also responding to numerous wildfires outside the park, limiting their ability to provide support to Parks Canada.
In the early hours of July 23, an evacuation order was issued for the Town of Jasper. The wildfires were expected to grow significantly with high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds forecasted. “Cross-over” was expected, when temperatures (C) exceed relative humidity (%). Cross-over is a threshold where fire behaviour increase and firefighting becomes challenging. The fire grew significantly on July 23, but remained several kilometres south of town.
July 24 saw continuing high temperatures and low humidity, however winds increased significantly, gusting to 100 km/h. These winds were coupled with a valley “funnelling” effect, driving the wildfire spread directly towards the Town of Jasper. Wildfire behaviour became extreme, with rapid rates of spread and energy, increasing throughout the day and limiting wildfire operations. First responders were forced to withdraw due to unsafe conditions. The wildfire entered Jasper in the late afternoon, causing significant structure loss.
Current Status of Jasper's Wildfire
After July 24, weather conditions changed significantly to cooler, rainier conditions, which reduced wildfire activity. From this day forward, operations focused on town safety, damage assessment, and containing the fire. Hundreds of firefighters and support resources were deployed onto the fire, however the fire remains out of control as of August 13, with operations continuing.
Factors Contributing to the Jasper Wildfire
Like most wildfire catastrophes, the Jasper wildfire became a disaster because of several coinciding factors. The first was the major wildfire hazard posed by the dead pine forests surrounding the town. This lead to huge tracts of flammable fuels upwind of the town. Parks Canada proactively managed this hazard and promoted FireSmart initiatives within the town, but ultimately the wildfire overwhelmed these defences.
Secondly, the high winds of July 24 resulted in extreme wildfire behaviour that limited operational success. There are very few viable and effective tactics for managing extreme wildfires. This wind, coupled with the highly flammable fuels, created near impossible conditions for wildfire suppression. Fuel surrounding town was also particularly volatile after a very dry July. This wildfire occurred under the worst possible weather conditions, in one of the worst possible locations.
Lessons from the Jasper Wildfire
Jasper is a community at a very high risk of wildfire. However, this was well known by Parks Canada management, who had made significant efforts to reduce the wildfire risk over many years. And there were successes to celebrate: all critical infrastructure survived, as did a majority of homes in the Town. There are many communities throughout BC and Alberta that have similar wildfire risks, but have done much less than Jasper to reduce wildfire risks.
This event puts in perspective how incredibly vulnerable many of our communities are, that many communities are much further behind in wildfire risk management, and that many of these communities are even more vulnerable to wildfire than Jasper.
Building community resilience to wildfire takes time and investment, and many of our communities are far behind and exposed to wildfire. Without making significant changes, we can expect events like the Jasper wildfire to become more and more common, and more and more damaging.
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Frontera Forest Solutions is a forestry consultancy located in North Vancouver, British Columbia. With clients all around Western Canada, Frontera specializes in helping communities develop wildfire resiliency though innovative forest management an urban forestry, grant writing and training and curriculum development.
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