Rain helps firefighters battle fires in Canada’s Jasper National Park | Climate News

According to Jasper City Council, approximately 32 percent of the city’s buildings were destroyed by the fire.

A wildfire that has destroyed about a third of the western Canadian town of Jasper remains out of control, but rain and cooler conditions are helping firefighters, authorities said.

The town of Jasper is located in Alberta’s mountainous Jasper National Park, a major tourist attraction. The town and the park, which attract more than two million tourists annually, were evacuated Monday.

“Rain and cooler temperatures, along with the incredibly hard work of firefighters, have resulted in significantly reduced fire activity,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Friday.

Smith told reporters it’s “important to note the fire is still not under control.”

“It remains unsafe for people to return,” she said.

As of Thursday evening, the Jasper “wildfire complex,” which includes three separate fires, was estimated at 36,000 hectares (about 89,000 acres), park officials said. However, they cautioned that mapping the complex was difficult due to high winds and “extreme fire behavior.”

Meanwhile, Jasper City Council reported that at least 358 of the city’s 1,113 structures — about 32 percent — had been destroyed.

⚠️ Update Jasper Wildfire Complex: current as of July 26 12:40 PM ⚠️ photo.twitter.com/LSIJrH8oE7

— Jasper National Park, Parks Canada (@JasperNP) July 26, 2024

Authorities estimated there were about 10,000 people in the town of Jasper and 15,000 visitors in the national park when the evacuation was ordered Monday.

David Leoni, one of the thousands of people evacuated, said his family lost the home they had lived in for a decade.

“Even a day and a half later, I still feel very shocked,” he told Canadian television channel CTV.

“I like to go back and see what’s left… for me it’s psychological – I think it’s good to have closure and see for myself what it’s like.”

Devastation of the Climate Crisis

The fire in the iconic national park, located about 370 km (230 miles) west of the provincial capital Edmonton, has drawn attention to the devastating wildfire season that characterizes the summer months in North America.

The fire was one of hundreds burning in Western Canada, fueled by a heat wave and an increase in lightning strikes. At least 166 fires were active in Alberta as of Friday, according to a government tracker.

Scientists say the global climate crisis has lengthened the North American wildfire season, with higher temperatures creating drier conditions that allow blazes to spread quickly. Climate change is also blamed for an increase in the frequency of lightning strikes.

Canada experienced its worst fire season on record in 2023, with more than 6,600 wildfires burning 15 million hectares (about 37 million acres), about seven times the annual average.

South of the Canadian border, firefighters were also battling a series of fires in the western United States. More than 110 active fires were burning Friday, covering 2,800 square miles (7,250 square kilometers).

That includes the Park Fire in California, which destroyed more than 130 buildings after it started on Wednesday. The blaze, currently the state’s largest, was started after a man pushed a burning car into a ravine in the northern city of Chico, authorities said.

In Oregon, a search and rescue team confirmed that a firefighter pilot died in a tanker plane crash in Oregon. The plane had disappeared Thursday while battling the Falls Fire in the state’s eastern flank.

The largest active fire in the U.S. is also burning in the state, with the Durkee Fire burning nearly 600 square miles (1,630 square kilometers) through Friday.