Wildfires send thousands fleeing from Canadian Rockies’ largest national park

This photo provided by Carolyn Campbell shows cars clogging the highway as people evacuate because of wildfires early Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in Jasper, Alberta. Multiple wildfires in Canada’s Jasper National Park have flared up, forcing all park visitors along with the 4,700 residents of the Jasper townsite to flee. (Carolyn Campbell/The Canadian Press via AP)

Multiple wildfires in the Canadian Rockies’ largest national park sent up to 25,000 visitors and residents fleeing west over the last open mountain road Tuesday, navigating through darkness and soot following a government alert during the area’s busiest tourist time of the year.

“It’s wall-to-wall traffic,” Carolyn Campbell, an Edmonton resident, said by phone from her vehicle. “(The smoke) is pretty thick. We’ve got masks in the car.” She said it took hours to move just seven kilometers (about four miles), and worried about others who fled with little gas in their tanks.

Hundreds of wildfires are burning in western Canada, and those fleeing Jasper National Park and Jasper town — home to 4,700 full-time residents — in Alberta province were given the unusual order later Tuesday to make a vast U-turn east if they needed a place to stay. To the west, British Columbia province already had more than 300 wildfires of its own.

Stephen Lacroix with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency said Jasper town estimated about 10,000 people, including seasonal workers, were there when the evacuation call went out. Lacroix said police were going door to door to make sure everyone has left. He also said Parks Canada estimated about 15,000 people had been in the park.

A reception center is readied for wildfire evacuees forced from Jasper National Park in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Tuesday, July 23, 2024. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)

Photos and videos shared on social media overnight into Tuesday showed long lines of vehicles, their headlights glowing, inching through swirling tendrils of smoke.

Fires threatening from the northeast cut off highway access east to Alberta’s capital, Edmonton. Another fire roaring up from the south forced the closure of the north-south Icefields Parkway. That left one route open west to British Columbia.

But Alberta fire officials said British Columbia had its hands full with its own evacuations. Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said reception centers were instead being set up in Grande Prairie and Calgary in Alberta, requiring long detours through parts of British Columbia by the drivers fleeing the Jasper area.

Alberta has been baking under scorching temperatures that have forced another 7,500 people out of a string of remote communities. About 170 wildfires were burning across the province.

The Municipality of Jasper and Jasper National Park said the evacuation was “progressing well,” and park and town officials scrambled to clear traffic gridlock, find fuel for vehicles and help vulnerable people to safety while marshaling resources to battle the fires.

A reception center is readied for wildfire evacuees forced from Jasper National Park in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Tuesday, July 23, 2024. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)

“Everyone in Jasper must evacuate now,” the Alberta government said in an emergency alert late Monday. Parks Canada noted “an evolving and dynamic situation.”

Evacuees were told they had five hours to clear out — by 3 a.m. Tuesday — and carry with them key documents, pets, medication and any other emergency supplies.

Parks Canada said evacuations had been carried out at numerous campgrounds as well as the Athabasca Hostel and the Palisades Stewardship and Education Centre.

Katie Ellsworth, fire management officer with Parks Canada, said helicopters were dousing targets with water and looking to evacuate hikers who might be trapped in the backcountry.

Jasper National Park said reservations from July 23 to Aug. 6 were being cancelled and would be fully refunded.

A reception centre is readied for wildfire evacuees forced from Jasper National Park in Calgary, Alta., Tuesday, July 23, 2024. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)

Many evacuees at first sought refuge in Valemount, British Columbia, a town of 1,000 people about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Jasper.

“The community’s pretty full,” town administrator Anne Yanciw said. “Every parking lot, boulevard, side of the road, field … anything that looks like it could fit a vehicle is full.”

Some evacuees spent the night on the floor of the local arena. A church served a pancake breakfast while drinks, snacks and information were on offer at Valemount’s community hall and visitor center.

“A lot of the fires that we’re fighting right now were (caused by) lightning, and there’s expected to be more coming in the near future,” Alberta Forestry Minister Todd Loewen said.

A record number of wildfires in 2023 forced more than 235,000 people across Canada to evacuate and sent thick smoke into parts of the U.S., leading to hazy skies and health advisories in multiple U.S. cities.