Sask. family joins thousands evacuating Jasper National Park as 'aggressive' wildfires approach
A Saskatoon family joined thousands of people evacuating the town of Jasper and surrounding area beginning Monday evening.
Multiple fires are burning in Jasper National Park. Two of them, burning to the north and south, are threatening the town of Jasper. As of 12 pm. CST Wednesday, flames were five kilometres from the Jasper townsite.
Around 25,000 people have left the national park since the evacuation notice Monday — all with little advance warning.
Saskatoon paddling instructor Bryan Sarauer, his wife and his daughter are on a road trip, and had stopped at Whistlers Campground just outside of Jasper.
After emergency alerts Monday night, the family packed up and left at approximately 10:20 p.m. Sarauer said the evacuation order was sudden, but the leaving was slow. He said it took about three hours to travel three kilometres onto Highway 16.
"We never felt that we were that threatened by [the fire]. We felt that we needed to get out of harm's way to make room for the parks people to do their jobs … taking care of the safety of tourists and visitors," said Sarauer.
The Sarauer family could see a fiery moon from their campsite Monday evening. (Lauren Sarauer)
It wasn't until 3:30 a.m. that the family arrived in the village of Valemount in east central B.C., where they were able to get gas and find a quiet place to park.
"And by four in the morning, we were curled up in the car as best we could in our car seats, you know, to try and get a little bit of rest," Sarauer said.
They managed to sleep a few hours before hitting the road again to head east back to Saskatoon.
This isn't the first time the family has encountered wildfires in their recent travels.
"We've driven by a lot of fire this summer. We've had numerous fires that we could see from the highways as we were driving and we even paddled through one fire on the Teslin River [in southern Yukon]," Sarauer said.
"So lots of concern, I guess. And you do have to wonder how much of this is a new normal."
Sarauer said wildfires generally are a natural part of life. However, learning that flames are drawing nearer to Jasper does have him concerned for the locals.
"It's scary when it's threatening your home, your business, your livelihood, the place you work, the place you live," he said.
"Those of us who play there, I mean, it's sad to see that damage. It is part of the cycle and regrowth. But it's an entirely different story when you've got property, livelihoods and so on that are at risk."
The line to leave Whistlers Campground before the Sarauer family joined. (Lauren Sarauer)
Fire crews hard at work
In a news conference Wednesday morning, Parks Canada incident commander Katie Ellsworth said crews were facing another challenging day attempting to keep the flames away from homes and businesses.
She said "aggressive" fire behaviour is expected to continue.
As of Wednesday morning, the fire had scorched at least 270 hectares.
The fire burning south of town doubled in size overnight. It has now burned an estimated 10,800 hectares of forest.
Emergency officials warned that the fire perimeters are changing minute by minute as volatile conditions persist.
