Timeline of the Jasper Wildfire

Thank you

Thank you to all first responders who fought to protect Jasper. They worked tirelessly day and night, to protect this community, which to many, is their home. Their selflessness and bravery are truly commendable – we will always remember the extraordinary dedication they displayed during the challenging early days of this wildfire response.

The wildfire and its timeline

In mid July 2024, the region had extremely hot and dry weather. The fire danger rating was extreme beginning on July 10, 2024, and a fire ban was in effect beginning on July 12, 2024. Jasper National Park had 2 Type 1 crews and 2 Type 2 crews based in the park that were working on the Utopia and Needle Peak wildfires. Initial attack crews were conducting daily patrols for smoke and illegal fires.

At 7:02 pm on July 22, 2024, a fire was reported near the Jasper Transfer Station. Eight minutes later, another wildfire was reported near Kerkeslin Campground. Within another 10 minutes, 2 more wildfires were reported near campgrounds south of Jasper. All 3 fires were quickly growing and displaying extreme fire intensity that made direct attack by firefighters unsafe. Throughout the night, wind gusts up to 87 kilometers an hour merged the 3 wildfires south of town into one large fire burning northward in the Athabasca River valley toward the town of Jasper.

Fire east of the Jasper townsite

Fire south of the Jasper townsite

Within 4 hours of the south wildfires starting, the combined area of the fires grew to over 3,000 hectares. Over the next 2 days, under continued hot, dry and windy conditions, flames would reach 30 to 50m high, with new fires starting up to 500m ahead of the fire from flaming embers. These merged south fires and the original north fire became known as the Jasper Wildfire Complex.

Valley of the Five Lakes, July 24, 2024

The quick actions taken by incident management staff on July 22 helped save lives. They moved quickly to evacuate the town and national park. Within an hour and a half of the wildfire starting, they had evacuated several facilities, including Snaring Campground, Snaring Overflow Campground and Wabasso campground and as well as Whirlpool group campground, Kerkeslin Campground, Athabasca Falls Youth Hostel, and the Palisades Education Facility. That same night, within just two hours, some areas that had been evacuated, like Whirlpool and Kerkeslin campgrounds, had already burned over.

View from Maligne Valley looking towards the Athabasca Valley. August 21, 2024

View of Mount Tekarra from the 93A area. July 30, 2024

As the wildfires continued to grow, they generated internal winds that accelerated wildfire growth at an aggressive rate. The strength of fire-generated convective winds uprooted healthy, mature trees including their entire root systems, across large swathes of the fire’s path on July 24.

Support from above

Air tankers (also known as water bombers) were requested the evening of July 22, however, support was not available. On July 23, air tankers were dispatched and made multiple drops on the wildfire complex with no apparent impact on fire activity. Fire retardant was deployed multiple times but because of the wildfire severity, and strong winds, it proved ineffective. Further air tanker support was requested again on July 24, but strong air turbulence and very poor visibility made it unsafe for airplanes to fly.

All available helicopters were utilized for bucketing operations and evacuating visitors from the backcountry. Alberta Wildfire provided a heavy lift Blackhawk helicopter that remained on the incident for the next 3 weeks.

Support on the ground

Hundreds of firefighters and resources, including state-of-the-art structure protection equipment for the town were called in and had arrived by July 24. Within two hours of the wildfire starting, a 12” high volume sprinkler system was ordered for deployment south of the community of Jasper. Structure protection was set up on critical infrastructure during the night of July 22. On July 23, structural protection high volume sprinklers were set up south and west of the community of Jasper and on additional critical infrastructure within the community.

Bulldozers and heavy machinery were deployed on July 24 but quickly had to be moved out of the fire’s path when conditions became unsafe for them to remain on the fire line.

Ignition specialists continuously assessed potential locations for strategic, landscape-level fuel removal. They were able to do tactical ignition operations east of the community on Signal Mountain, and west of the community on Whistlers Mountain, that pulled the fire away from directly impacting the community.

Around 6 pm on July 24, the wildfire climbed the north-facing slopes of Whistler’s Mountain and reached the treeline. With no more fuel to burn and winds blowing in from the west through the Miette Valley, the column of hot air that had been lifting smoke and embers suddenly collapsed. This caused thick smoke and burning embers to collapse over the southwest corner of the community, igniting vulnerable buildings and some forest west of the community. The buildings that caught fire spread to other structures and by around 8 pm, the smoke in town from burning buildings had become dangerously toxic. Structural firefighters worked through the night and into the morning to put out structural fires and stop further spread. Thanks to the efforts of both wildland and structural firefighters, 70% of the structures in town were saved, including all critical infrastructure.

Over the next 6 weeks, wildland firefighting crews continued to work to establish a 278-kilometre control line around the wildfire’s perimeter. The Jasper Wildfire was declared as being held on August 17, 2024, and declared under control on September 7, 2024. Over the course of the response, more than 3,000 personnel were involved in managing the wildfire and making it safe for community members to return safely to Jasper.

For the most up-to-date map of areas in Jasper National Park that are open and those areas that remain closed for public safety, visit parks.canada.ca/jasper-alerts.