Jasper's wildfire preparedness work put to the test as out-of-control fires threaten townsite
Parks Canada has been conducting prescribed burns since 2003
For years, Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper have removed trees and branches, logged a firebreak, ignited controlled burns and asked residents to clear yard debris in hopes of protecting the forest-nestled town from a dangerous blaze.
Those mitigations may now be put to the test as out-of-control wildfires bear down on the Jasper townsite, according to wildfire experts.
Thousands of people were forced to flee the Jasper townsite and national park Monday night, as the threat of wildfire grew rapidly.
"A big part of these treatments is not necessarily to stop the fire cold in its tracks, but to slow the fire and keep the fire on the surface rather than spreading fire in the canopy," said Jen Beverly, a University of Alberta associate professor of agricultural, life and environmental science who studies wildfires.
Flames high up in the trees, rather than at ground level, are more difficult for firefighters to extinguish and will spew sparks and embers that inevitably land on buildings and set them ablaze, she said.
Parks Canada's website says it uses strategies like prescribed burns and the maintenance of a fireguard west of the townsite to protect properties and important sites in Jasper National Park.
The federal agency and the municipality have been working to thin the forest around the town since 2003, and have removed more than 10 square kilometres of forest, it says.
In 2018 and 2019, they also hired Canfor to carefully cut down trees on a slope west of town to create a protective firebreak.
Mathieu Bourbonnais, a University of British Columbia-Okanagan assistant professor who is part of the university's Centre for Wildfire Coexistence, said these prevention strategies likely won't halt an encroaching wildfire, but can change its behaviour to make it easier for firefighters to battle.
"It might drop out of the [tree] crowns, it might just become a surface fire, or it might actually just run out of energy and stop," he said.
Bourbonnais, who was also a rappel team firefighter in Alberta and has worked for Parks Canada, says the federal agency is one of the most proactive authorities in the country at setting prescribed burns and trying to restore what used to be more frequent cycles of fire in the forest.
Conditions ripe for bigger blazes
Wildfire ecologist and private consultant Robert Gray says historic photographs show Jasper National Park wasn't always densely covered with conifer trees. Indigenous people who previously lived on the land ignited some fires, and, governments and agencies didn't use to extinguish forest fires.
These smaller, more frequent fires would run out of fuel more quickly, he said.
"And now we have this just large buffet out there, which is just what fire needs," he said.
Complicating the situation is the mountain pine beetle, which has ravaged parts of the park in the last two decades. The experts interviewed for this story said it leaves behind a heterogeneous network of dried debris that is sometimes extremely flammable, and at other stages, is at lower risk of igniting.
Climate change and increased spells of hot, dry weather are no help, Gray said.
The Chilliwack, B.C.-based consultant said the number of prescribed burns happening in western Canada and the funding for such programs is inadequate to combat the volume of forest that's ready to burn.
"Right now it's stop, start, stop, start," he said. "There's funding there one year, not the next. You can't retain people because there's no steady employment. It's a recipe for disaster."
Programs like FireSmart, which encourage property owners to build with less flammable materials, among other measures, have had limited success because these changes are expensive for citizens, Gray said.
CBC News has requested an interview with FireSmart Alberta.
Beverly says she's done research showing the Jasper townsite is particularly vulnerable to wildfire because it is located at the confluence of three mountain valleys, which fire would naturally migrate along.
And no preventative burn or tree removal will allow the forest to withstand the power of a strong wind or an intense hot, dry spell, Beverly said.
"When it's really extreme, you can't expect these treatments to fulfil their goal," she said.
So far this wildfire season, about 540,000 hectares has burned in Alberta. In 2023, considered the worst wildfire season on record, about 2.2 million of hectares burned.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
