GRAND PRAIRIE, Alberta (AP) — Park rangers scoured the Canadian Rockies’ largest national park in helicopters Wednesday to look for stragglers still inside despite a mass evacuation aiming to move 25,000 visitors and residents away from two large wildfires.
Searchers looking through the backcountry trails of Jasper National Park already had picked up 245 people, and they continued the search Wednesday in two helicopters, Parks Canada Incident Commander Katie Ellsworth said.
As many as 15,000 people were believed to be in the park and 10,000 in the neighboring town of Jasper late Monday when authorities issued an alert asking everyone in the area to evacuate. Residents and visitors streamed out by the thousands late Monday and Tuesday, and officials said Wednesday the evacuation of Jasper was complete.
Ellsworth said park officials expected the evacuation of the park’s backcountry areas to be completed later Wednesday. Reservations are required for the park, so authorities have an idea of where people are, though Ellsworth said she wasn’t immediately sure how many people were left.
Images shared on social media showed long lines of vehicles, their headlights glowing, inching through swirling tendrils of smoke.
Addison McNeill, 24, said she had just moved to Jasper from the Alberta capital of Edmonton when she got the stressful alert Monday night to evacuate. Thousands of Jasper’s 4,700 full-time residents left in vehicles but were trapped in gridlock and hot, smoky air for hours.
“Every single person in town was beelining to one exit from about six different routes, and so you get bottleneck, backups and congestion,” she said.
A fire to the northeast cut off highway access east to Edmonton. Another fire roaring up from the south forced the closure of the north-south Icefields Parkway. That left one route open, going west to British Columbia.
But Alberta fire officials said British Columbia had its hands full with its own evacuations. Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said reception centers were instead being set up in Grande Prairie and Calgary in Alberta, requiring long detours through British Columbia by the drivers fleeing Jasper.
Alberta has been baking under scorching temperatures that have already forced another 7,500 people out of remote communities. About 170 wildfires were burning across the province.
Ellsworth said the north fire, spanning about 272 hectares, is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Jasper. She said the south fire, about 10,800 hectares, is about 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) from the town.
Rain was expected into Thursday but not enough to control the fires, with no word yet on when people could return, Ellsworth said.
Jasper resident Leanne Maeva Joyeuse was relieved but exhausted after reaching the Grand Prairie evacuation center following 20 hours on the road with her grandmother, parents and younger brother.
“We’re just waiting to go back home and see how many days we’re going to be stuck here,” Joyeuse said.
A record number of wildfires in 2023 forced more than 235,000 people across Canada to evacuate and sent thick smoke into parts of the U.S., leading to hazy skies and health advisories in multiple U.S. cities.