Residents of Jasper and visitors of the popular national park are being told to be ready to leave on short notice due to nearby wildfires.
An evacuation alert was issued Monday for both the national park and the Jasper town site.
“This is a preventative measure due to the number of fires. There is no immediate threat to the town of Jasper,” reads the alert posted around 8:30 p.m. Monday.
No evacuation order for the town or park has been issued, but people in the area should be prepared to leave on short notice, according to an Alberta Emergency Alert.
According to Jasper National Park, evacuations have taken place at the Athabasca hostel, Wabasso campground, Kerkeslin Pit, Snaring campground, Snaring overflow and the Palisades Stewardship Education Centre.
A social media post from park states that Parks Canada fire crews and the Jasper Fire Department are responding to a wildfire around the transfer station, about nine kilometres northeast of the Jasper town site.
RCMP said that Highway 16 will be closed for west bound travel at the Jasper Park gates, on the east side. East bound access to Jasper is also closed during the firefighting efforts.
“RCMP are advising that travel is not recommended west of Hinton,” reads a news release sent Monday night, and advising people refer to 511 Alberta for updated road closure information.
Drivers headed west are told to detour north through Grande Prairie on Highway 40 or south to Highway 1 through to British Columbia. Anyone travelling from British Columbia to Alberta should detour south on Highway 1 or north on Highway 2, RCMP said.
“Please avoid the Jasper National Park area along Highway 16 and allow first responders to do their jobs safely,” states the news release.
Northbound and southbound travel along Highway 93 near the Athabasca River is also closed due wildfires, police said.
Thousands evacuated from homes in northern Alberta
About 7,500 people in Alberta were under evacuation orders as of Monday.
The three communities that make up Little Red River Cree Nation — John D’Or Prairie, Fox Lake and Garden River — remain under evacuation order as the out-of-control Semo Wildfire Complex burns nearby. It’s estimated to be more than 96,000 hectares in size.
“The next 48 hours is pretty critical,” Chief Conroy Sewepagaham said in a video update on Facebook.
“The dozer groups are going to be working 24/7. They’re going to do whatever they can to extend Highway 58 toward High Level, and extending the northern portion of the highway going into Garden River.”
Alberta Wildfire said the fire had reached Highway 58, the only road out of Garden River, and was 13 kilometres northwest of the community itself as of Monday afternoon.
Residents of the northern communities of Chipewyan Lake and Janvier 194 have also been ordered to leave.
In the Fort McMurray area, two large fires continue to burn out of control. MWF047 covers 105,515 ha and MWF077 is 19,112 ha. Both fires are just under seven kilometres away from industrial facilities, according to Alberta Wildfire.
Part of Highway 63 north of Wandering River was closed in both directions near Township Road 722 Monday due to wildfire, according to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
According to the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard, there are 170 active wildfires burning across the province as of Monday night.
Environment Canada said cooler temperatures were expected to start moving into northwestern parts of the province starting Monday night, though hot conditions may persist through much of the week farther south.