Officials with Jasper National Park provided updates on the status of the Jasper Complex Wildfire, as well as re-entry plans for residents on Monday, Aug. 12.
Officials with the Incident Management Team say they believe all the criteria for re-entry will be met by Friday, August 16. However, this re-entry date is conditional on maintaining the re-entry criteria and may be changed or delayed by increased fire activity, or if there is a change in critical services that could impact re-entry.
While the northern perimeter of the fire that was presenting a risk to the townsite is currently at 99 per cent contained or controlled, officials say the rest of the fire is still classified as out of control and is estimated to still be approximately 33,000 hectares in size.
Crews say assistance from a military Black Hawk helicopter (which can perform an equivalent amount of work as 3 medium helicopters) as well as five water trucks has assisted in efforts to stop the spread of the fire.
According to officials, the Miette, Snaring and Snaring Overflow campgrounds have all been assessed, and campers will soon be able to retrieve items that were left behind during the evacuation. Officials say they will be contacting campers directly in order to coordinate retrievals. Crews also say the fires in the area of Lake Edith, Treefoil and the Jasper Park Lodge are now classified as controlled.
RCMP say they had to close Highway 16 on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 11 due to wildfire activity, but the highway re-opened at 7:00 a.m. on Aug.12.
