Highway 16 through Jasper opens for commercial vehicles Wednesday

Highway 16 through Jasper reopened Wednesday, but only to commercial trucks.

Work is currently underway to allow evacuees still in B.C. to drive through, back to Alberta.

Officials say the fire in the national park is still burning out of control.

“Crews on the ground are beginning to see heightened activity with rising temperatures and dry windy weather. To mitigate the impacts of this more extreme activity, Parks Canada is reporting firefighters are considering options to strategically remove fuel that will help contain the fire within natural and pre-constructed fuel breaks,” explained Todd Lowen, Minister of Forestry.

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Parks Canada is still working on official tours for evacuees in the national park, and connecting those who were camping with items left behind.

But crews are currently working to get the power back on and hook up surviving businesses and homes to natural gas.

Meanwhile, there’s been some relief in northern Alberta. The over 6,000 evacuees from Little Red River Cree Nation can go home on August 5th, for some, more than three weeks after being forced out of their community due to wildfires.