Alberta is estimating 10,000 people – a combination of residents and seasonal workers – were forced to evacuate Jasper National Park because of nearby wildfires.
The figure doesn’t take into account the estimated 15,000 visitors – as reported by Parks Canada – who may have been in the area at the time of Monday night’s evacuation order.
“Ten thousand is the number we’re tracking in Jasper, exclusive of visitors, because we have no means of tracking them after the fact if they don’t decide to come back,” explained Stephen Lacroix, the senior assistant deputy minister and managing director at Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
That brings the current total number of Alberta residents displaced from their homes due to wildfires to 17,500. Evacuation orders were already in effect for Little Red River Cree Nation (7,000 people); Chipewyan Prairie First Nation (400); and Chipewyan Lake (100).
“Those numbers will be confirmed as people register at the various receptions that are set up in the province,” said Lacroix, describing it as a “very fluid situation.”
Alberta Emergency Management Agency is working to determine if anyone remains in the town of Jasper.
“There’s an operation ongoing right now to make sure everybody is safely out of the community,” Lacroix added.
The province issued the evacuation alert late Monday evening, warning of a wildfire south of town. Everyone was asked to be out by 3:30 a.m.
In an updated emergency alert Tuesday morning, officials said the evacuation from the town and the park is “progressing well.” Residents were urged to continue following directives as the majority of traffic was being directed west on Highway 16.
There have been no reported road traffic accidents during the evacuation, Lacroix says. “Which is in itself pretty impressive, actually.”
Some evacuees sought refuge for the night in Valemount, B.C., a small town 120 kilometres west of Jasper.
But the main evacuation reception centres are in Grande Prairie and Calgary, even though they are further from Jasper than Prince George, B.C., for instance.
“The issue is the severity of wildfire activity and evacuations in B.C.,” Lacroix said. “British Columbia has been very gracious in facilitating the movement of Albertans through their province and actually helping us with a collection point in Valemount, but they had no capacity to house Albertans.
“That’s why the decision was made to route people back into Alberta.”