Wildfire that ripped through Jasper National Park could burn for months, official says

A wildfire that's destroyed hundreds of structures in the town of Jasper, Alta., and continues to burn out of control in the national park could still be burning months from now, a Parks Canada official says.

"This fire is the largest one that Jasper National Park has recorded in the last 100 years," Landon Shepherd, a deputy incident commander with the federal agency, told a news conference on Saturday afternoon in nearby Hinton, Alta.

"We're going to be working on this wildfire, we expect, over the next three months at least. What the last five years has taught us is that the fire season in Jasper tends to last well into the fall."

Shepherd said the region got about 12 millimetres of rain over about a day and a half, and while that was good, there were still active hot spots near the community. Fire activity was beginning to pick up again, although not to the same degree as last week, he said.

Warmer weather is expected over the coming days.

More than 20,000 people in and around the town nestled in the Rocky Mountains, about 350 kilometres west of Edmonton, were ordered to evacuate late Monday night due to fast-moving wildfires.

Parks Canada has estimated that close to a third of the town's structures were damaged by the wildfire, with 358 of the 1,113 structures destroyed.

The Municipality of Jasper released an updated map and list of damaged or destroyed properties on Saturday afternoon.

In an online update, Parks Canada said fire suppression has been progressing well in the Jasper townsite, and it anticipated all remaining fires there would be extinguished on Saturday.

Structural protection sprinklers are being relocated, from previously burned areas to the active fire perimeter adjacent to the community and outlying structures — to protect these areas, Parks Canada said. This includes more structural protection sprinklers being installed at Lake Edith and businesses north of the town of Jasper.

Bulldozers are preparing to put protection lines around the north end of the community and to help reduce spread west of the community on the lower slopes of Whistler Mountain.

Support from Ontario, Quebec, Australia and South Africa is expected to arrive on Sunday.

The federal agency said power is being restored to parts of the downtown core and critical infrastructure, which it said would help to speed up further damage assessment and recovery.

Earlier Saturday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told her provincewide radio call-in show that she'd like to see bus tours organized for evacuated residents of Jasper so they can see the damage the wildfire did to their town for themselves, and so they'll know what to expect when they're eventually allowed to return home.