Rising from ashes: Jasper marks sombre wildfire anniversary with grief, hope

Resilient, healing, enduring.

That’s how the mayor of Jasper described the residents of the iconic Alberta mountain resort town that was devastated by lightning-sparked wildfires a year ago.

Within three days, the flames merged and destroyed one-third of the town – homes, hotels, businesses and memories.

There were tears, hugs and tributes to a fallen firefighter Tuesday in Jasper as residents and officials gathered to commemorate the sombre one-year anniversary.

“It’s important to respect fire for what it is because it is also part of nature,” said Elder Bruce Cutknife of Samson Cree Nation. “We can see it all around us and sometimes these events do occur. It’s not within our grasp to understand why it would occur.”

At the commemoration ceremony, Mayor Richard Ireland acknowledged some residents likely stayed away from the event because the pain is still too much to bear publicly.

“My hope, and I expect yours, is that in paying homage to all that we’ve been through, in recognizing our progress and our successes, in commemorating this sad anniversary, we do not stir too much,” Ireland said.

Others came to support one another and the rebuild.

“It’s that bit of sad hopefulness,” said Ryan Chabrel-Davis, who grew up in Jasper. “We’re still recovering but we’re getting through it. We’re all here, so we’re doing great.”

“The fire, for some, was the first traumatic event of their life,” added Jasper resident Sandra Coombe. “I’m a little older so I’ve had a few others. So, I know I will survive and thrive.”

On July 22, 2024, a swiftly racing wildfire forced 20,000 visitors and 5,000 town residents to leave, spawning images of long lines of vehicles, their red taillights glowing, inching through a tunnel of smoke in the dead of night.

Two days later, shifting winds and towers of flame showered the town with embers that lit new fires, destroying a third of all structures in a capricious assault that left intact homes standing alongside piles of rubble.

Some firefighters battled the flames knowing their homes had already been destroyed.

Slow rebuild

Of the 358 properties that were destroyed, the town says none have been rebuilt, although one family replaced their house with a modular home.

So far, 114 properties have been cleared for construction, while another 71 remain held up by soil-testing requirements for contaminants.

A full residential rebuild is expected to take upwards of a decade.

RELATED: ‘Full box of emotions’: Rebuild progress slow in Jasper one year after wildfire

Some Jasper families are feeling frustrated by that lack of progress, while others say it’s just another hurdle they’ll have to overcome.

“Our main goal here is just to see if there’s any way we can help speed that construction up of those 300 homes, get more people to be able to return to their homes and to Jasper,” said Jason Nixon, Alberta’s assisted living and social services minister.

“Recovery continues, for some there has been steady progress,” added Mayor Ireland. “For others, sorrow and frustration continue to dominate, interspersed hopefully with moments of success, brightness and optimism.”

Thanks to an early evacuation, all residents survived the fire.

But special tribute was paid to Morgan Kitchen, a firefighter who was killed by a fallen tree while working to protect Jasper.

“His sacrifice will always be remembered, and our thoughts are with Morgan’s family, friends and wildfire team on this day,” said Todd Loewen, Alberta’s forestry and parks minister.

Demand for apology

Alongside the anniversary has been a war of words between the town and Premier Danielle Smith’s government over a third-party report.

The report, commissioned by the town and released late last week, surveyed front-line firefighters and other officials to determine ways to improve future fire responses. It determined the province’s interference disrupted the focus of fighting the fires.

The Alberta government was not responsible for leading the response because Jasper is located inside a national park, but the report says the province regularly asked for information and sought “to exercise decision-making authority.”

It concludes that the jurisdictional overlap “created political challenges that disrupted the focus of incident commanders.”

The authors do not elaborate on how severely these challenges impeded the emergency response, but Ireland said Monday, “There is no suggestion in that report that any disruption led to any negative consequence.”

Smith has called the criticism unfair and last week demanded the town apologize for the report and retract it.

The town has done neither. Ireland has said the town stands by the report, but added it was not intended to lay blame or politicize the issue and has been misrepresented.

Smith, in a social media post Tuesday, wrote the province will continue to support the town in its recovery.

“For many Jasperites, that difficult chapter still isn’t over, and my heart is with every person or family still waiting to return home,” she wrote.

–With files from The Canadian Press