Wildfires send about 25,000 fleeing from Canadian Rockies’ largest national park and nearby town
Multiple wildfires in the Canadian Rockies’ largest national park have sent up to 25,000 visitors and residents fleeing west over the last open mountain road
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Multiple wildfires in the Canadian Rockies' largest national park sent up to 25,000 visitors and residents fleeing west over the last open mountain road Tuesday, navigating through darkness and soot following a government alert during the area's busiest tourist time of the year.
“It’s wall-to-wall traffic,” Carolyn Campbell, an Edmonton resident, said by phone from her vehicle. “(The smoke) is pretty thick. We’ve got masks in the car.” She said it took hours to move just seven kilometers (about four miles), and worried about others who fled with little gas in their tanks.
Hundreds of wildfires are burning in western Canada, and those fleeing Jasper National Park and Jasper town — home to 4,700 full-time residents — in Alberta province were given the unusual order later Tuesday to make a vast U-turn east if they needed a place to stay. To the west, British Columbia province already had more than 300 wildfires of its own.
Stephen Lacroix with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency said Jasper town estimated about 10,000 people, including seasonal workers, were there when the evacuation call went out. Lacroix said police were going door to door to make sure everyone has left. He also said Parks Canada estimated about 15,000 people had been in the park.
