Bus tours for affected Jasper residents to start Sunday

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EDMONTON — Bus tours for evacuees from Jasper, Alta., to allow those whose homes were damaged or destroyed by a wildfire to see the devastation first-hand will begin on Sunday.

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Joe Zatylny with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency told an online news conference that the first tours will depart from Edmonton as well as Edson, Alta.

“This is all contingent, as the wildfire situation in Jasper National Park continues to fluctuate,” Zatylny cautioned.

Zatylny said for safety, no one will be allowed to leave the buses while they are inside the national park.

Thousands of people fled the town and park on July 22 due to the fire, which eventually spread into the community and destroyed one-third of its buildings.

Registration for residents to take part in the tours was announced Friday, but a time for when they’d happen was still up in the air.

Zatylny said people who have registered will be contacted, and online registration remains open. Mental health, as well as support referral services, will be available during the tour to help people prepare for viewing the disaster site, he said.

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An evacuation order for Jasper and Jasper National Park remains in effect. Zatylny said planning continues for all evacuees to eventually return home.

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Parks Canada reported Saturday that the fire in the park was still burning out of control. Dean MacDonald, deputy incident commander with Parks Canada, said the size of the fire on Saturday was estimated to be 32,000 hectares, which he noted was down slightly from Friday’s estimate due to more accurate mapping.

MacDonald told a news conference on Saturday that firefighters are doing everything they can to keep the fire from re-entering the town, even as rising temperatures this weekend are expected to boost fire activity.

“We have everything in place that we can do, and we’re working towards securing further and further the control lines around town to make it more secure,” MacDonald said.

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The town’s fire chief, Mathew Conte, told that news conference workers in the community were moving debris away from damaged structures and were also removing damaged trees. Hydrants were also being checked for pressure, he said, and municipal water lines were being flushed, with samples being sent to the province for testing.

Elsewhere in the province, the Little Red River Cree First Nation, whose communities of Garden River, Fox Lake, and John D’Or Prairie were evacuated last month due to an encroaching fire, have announced that buses are being scheduled for people to return home starting Monday.

Alberta Wildfire said Saturday that there are 118 wildfires currently burning in the province’s forest protection area, with 18 of those classified as out of control, 47 being held and 53 are under control.

A number of provincial parks and recreation areas have been closed due to wildfire activity.

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