Parks Canada CEO Ron Hallman said heavy winds and dry temperatures caused the inferno to grow quickly
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OTTAWA — Jasper’s mayor said Monday he rejects any suggestion that Parks Canada failed in its management of Jasper National Park against the risk of wildfire, saying their efforts resulted in 70 per cent of the town remaining intact.
Richard Ireland—whose own home was burned— said he’s heard criticism against the federal department coming from residents of Jasper, who he acknowledged are reeling from seeing a third of the town’s structures being destroyed by an out-of-control wildfire last week.
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“For anyone who might see this as a failure, I reject that premise,” he told reporters during a briefing Monday. “This is a success.”
He said people are asking why more of the forest was not cleared, particularly of pine-beetle dead trees, which critics suggest may have fed the wildfire. While officials say they played a factor, Ireland said it is simply not feasible to have cleared the area.
“We’re talking about a stretch of land, a valley that’s kilometres wide and 30 kilometres long and it is absolutely full of pine-beetle dead trees,” said Ireland. “There is no conceivable way to remove all of them, so we had to prepare for the eventuality of fire.”
Parks Canada President and CEO Ron Hallman said heavy winds and dry temperatures caused the inferno to grow quickly, adding that firefighters had to battle a fast-moving wall of flames that towered high above the trees that foiled regular fire-fighting techniques.
Hallman also defended the work Parks Canada had done to date to manage the park, saying he understands people have questions and that there will be a time and place to seek answers.
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Destruction caused by pine beetles has been an issue Alberta and British Columbia have faced for years, he said, adding it is that one that Parks Canada already uses prescribed burns to help remove.
“I’m well aware that there’s a debate out there and I’ll leave that to those who are interested in having that,” Hallman said.
Over the past decade, he says Parks Canada has lit 15 prescribed burns in Jasper burning “thousands of hectares” in the park alone.
Hallman added that over his 30 year career as a public servant, where he has worked for 12 different ministers under four different prime ministers, the issue around the risks posed by pine beetles has never been politicized.
“We take (the) safety of everyone very seriously,” he said.
No injuries or fatalities were reported from the blaze which entered the town last Wednesday, with officials saying 70 per cent of its structures were saved.
Ireland underscored how all visitors and residents of the town were able to be brought to safety.
“I reject entirely any suggestion that there is a failure here,” he said. “Most of our town was spared.”
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Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says all fires in the community have been extinguished and that crews are working to return power to the town and are planning a “staged re-entry” for its residents, but have no timelines yet.
Planning for re-entry must be done carefully given officials warn that upcoming weather conditions create a heightened fire risk and the fact there are wildfires burning within the park which threaten the community, the minister added.
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