By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) – A massive wildfire that has destroyed about a third of the western Canadian resort town of Jasper is still raging out of control but rain and cooler conditions are helping firefighters, authorities said on Friday.
Jasper sits in the middle of Alberta's mountainous Jasper National Park, a major tourist attraction. The town and park, which draw more than two million tourists a year to this area of the Rockies, were evacuated on Monday.
“Rain, cooler temperatures and incredibly hard work by firefighters have resulted in significantly controlled fire activity,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said.
“It's important to note that the fire is still out of control and it remains dangerous for people to return,” he said at a news conference.
Parks Canada said between 10 and 15 mm (0.39 and 0.59 inches) of rain fell on Thursday and will likely keep fire behavior low through the weekend.
Jasper City Council said that of a total of 1,113 structures within the city, 358 (or more than 32%) had been destroyed.
David Leoni, one of thousands of people evacuated, said his family lost the home they had lived in for 10 years.
“Even a day and a half after that I still feel very shaken,” he told CTV.
“I'll be happy to go back and see what's left… for me psychologically it's… I think it's good to have some closure and see for myself what it's like.”
CN Rail, one of the country's two largest rail companies, resumed moving freight through Jasper National Park on Friday after the fire forced it to suspend operations.
CN remains in regular contact with officials and is monitoring the weather and fire movements, it said in a statement.
Authorities estimated that there were up to 10,000 people in the city and another 15,000 visitors in the park when the evacuation order was given.
By late Thursday, officials said crews had managed to protect all of Jasper's critical infrastructure, including the hospital, schools and a wastewater treatment plant.
The fire also damaged several bridges around the city and in the park, they added.
Jasper Park Lodge, one of the city's largest hotels, said it had sustained some damage but most of the structures remained standing and intact. The 400-room residence is run by Fairmont, a group owned by French-owned Accor (EPA Agency:).
The Trans Mountain pipeline, which can carry 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Edmonton to Vancouver, runs through the park. The operator said Thursday there were no signs of damage.
The federal government said in April that high temperatures and extremely dry forests meant this could be a catastrophic year for wildfires in Canada.
The current fire could be one of the most damaging in Alberta since the 2016 blaze that hit the oil town of Fort McMurray, forcing the evacuation of all 90,000 residents and destroying 10% of all structures there.
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