Dangerous wildfires forced the evacuation of a town and a major national park in the Canadian province of Alberta on Monday night.
Around 10 p.m., evacuation orders were issued for “everyone” in Jasper, home to about 4,000 inhabitants – and Jasper National Park, according to the province emergency warning systemJust an hour later, an updated warning called for the evacuation to be completed within five hours.
Multiple fires fires in Jasper National Park, that is Closed Tuesday. Jasper National Park is one of Canada’s most popular parks and almost pulled 2.5 million visitors last year, according to Parks Canada.
As of Tuesday morning, details were still not available on the exact location, size and level of containment of the fires threatening the Jasper area.
“This is an evolving situation,” the park said on social media early Tuesday morning. “Parks Canada fire personnel will continue to assess the wildfires at sunrise.”
The evacuees fled in the dark, without much time to prepare.
The initial stages of the evacuation were complicated by the location of the fires, which forced most traffic west toward British Columbia on Regional Highway 16. Some traffic was allowed to return eastbound early Tuesday morning.
“Only if fire conditions along the road allow, small groups of escorted vehicles will be directed east on Highway 16,” an emergency warning said.
Officials in neighboring British Columbia quickly moved to support evacuees.
“Communities large and small across British Columbia along evacuation routes are doing what we can to open fuel stations, direct people to rest areas, open welcome centres and provide support,” said Bowinn Ma, British Columbia’s Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Preparedness, on social media early tuesday morning.
The wildfires are among at least 170 blazes burning across the province of Alberta as fire activity has intensified in recent days.
Canada raised its national wildfire preparedness level to the highest level last Monday, meaning the “potential for major wildfires to occur is high to extreme,” the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
Showers and periods of windy conditions are possible in the Jasper evacuation zone, especially early Tuesday. Any wet weather could help firefighters control the spread of fire, but windy conditions could make fire behavior erratic at times.
Wednesday will be mostly dry and windy across the area before widespread showers arrive Thursday morning and continued rain falls into the evening. Depending on how the fires behave early this week, firefighters could make significant progress in containing the fires on Thursday.
Wildfires have destroyed more than 5 million hectares in Canada this yearwhich is about average for late July. Despite millions of acres burned, this year’s fire season is far lower than last year’s record breaking, devastating season.
CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller contributed to this report.
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