EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA — Parks Canada says crews in the town of Jasper are fighting flames that are jumping from building to building but critical infrastructure has so far been protected.
Parks Canada officials, in an update late Thursday afternoon, said the hospital, the emergency services building, schools, the activity centre and wastewater treatment plant were still standing.
“Though the hotel did incur fire damage, most of the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge structures, including the main lodge, remain intact and standing," the hotel said in a social media post.Parks officials said they were doing the best they could to deliver verified assessments to anxious residents a day after a wildfire whipped by ferocious 100 km/h winds swooped into the southern edge of the townsite and began destroying homes and livelihoods in sheets of orange-red flame.
“We don't know which structures have been damaged and which ones have been destroyed, but that's going to be a significant rebuild," Smith said. Images and video surfacing on social media depict blocks of homes and businesses burned to charred foundations and vehicles torched to the hubcaps. "Every federal agency is co-ordinated, sending resources to Jasper, deploying evacuations support to the area and reinforcing firefighting efforts on the ground."
Those without a place to stay have been directed to evacuation centres in Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Calgary.
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