Blaze in Canadian tourist town still out of control, but rain helping firefighters

ottawa — A massive wildfire that destroyed about a third of the western Canadian tourist town of Jasper is still out of control, but rain and cooler conditions are helping firefighters, authorities said on Friday. 

Jasper is in the middle of Alberta's mountainous Jasper National Park, a major tourist attraction. The town and park, which draw more than 2 million tourists a year to this area of the Rocky Mountains, were evacuated on Monday. 

"Rain and cooler temperatures and the incredibly hard work of firefighters have resulted in fire activity that is significantly subdued," said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. 

"It is important to note that the fire is still out of control, and it remains unsafe for people to return," she said at a news conference. 

Parks Canada said between 10 mm and 15 mm (0.39 and 0.59 inch) of rain had fallen on Thursday and would most likely keep fire behavior low until the weekend. 

The Jasper town council said that out of a total of 1,113 structures within the town, 358 – or more than 32% – had been destroyed. 

David Leoni, one of the thousands of people evacuated, said his family lost the house they had been living in for 10 years. 

"Even a day and a half on from that I'm still feeling very shocked," he told CTV television. "I will gladly go back in to see what remains ... for me psychologically it's – I think it's good to have some closure and to see for myself what it's like." 

CN Rail, one of the country's two largest rail companies, resumed the movement of goods through Jasper National Park on Friday after the fire forced it to suspend operations. 

CN remains in regular contact with officials and is monitoring weather and fire movements, it said in a statement. 

Officials estimated that when the evacuation order was given, there were as many as 10,000 people in the town and an additional 15,000 visitors in the park. 

Late on Thursday, authorities said crews had managed to protect all of Jasper's critical infrastructure. This included the hospital, schools and a wastewater treatment plant. 

The blaze also damaged bridges around the town and in the park.

Most structures intact at Jasper Park Lodge 

The Jasper Park Lodge, one of the largest hotels in town, said it had suffered some damage, but most structures remained standing and intact. The 400-room residence is run by Fairmont, a group owned by France's Accor. 

The Trans Mountain oil pipeline, which can carry 890,000 barrels per day of oil from Edmonton to Vancouver, runs through the park. The operator said on Thursday there were no signs of damage. 

The federal government said in April that high temperatures and tinder-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 a 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.