Highway 16 through Jasper open to commercial traffic, seniors to return Friday

Highway 16, the major east-west route in northern Alberta and B.C. through Jasper National Park, partially reopened Thursday morning, even as wildfire activity was expected to increase. 

Only commercial vehicles are allowed to pass through Jasper on Thursday during three time windows: 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

• Complete coverage of the 2024 Alberta wildfire season

On Wednesday, Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis warned the access times could be changed or restricted without notice as the wildfire danger climbs. 

According to a 9 p.m. update from Jasper National Park, strong winds spread flames on the south side of the wildfire complex on Wednesday, but ground crews limited spread elsewhere. 

"Conditions are becoming warmer and drier so increased fire behaviour is expected in coming days that will challenge control efforts," the park said. 

The emergency command centre warned: "The risk to Jasper National Park and the Municipality of Jasper is still very present. We have used this period of lower fire activity to prepare and there has been significant progress made on protecting the community and the park from wildfire risk." 

This preparation included redeploying structure protection sprinklers and a volume sprinkler, constructing fire breaks with heavy equipment, and burning forest fuels. 

Leaders from all three levels of government are scheduled to provide an update on Thursday at 2:15 p.m. MT. Watch it live on CTVNewsEdmonton.ca. 

Mounties will be controlling Highway 16 access on Thursday with checkpoints set up in both directions.

The highway was shut down before the town was evacuated, which is why evacuees had to travel to B.C. before coming back to Alberta.

Despite the highway reopening, Jasper residents still don’t have a timeline for when they may be able to return home.

• In Pictures: Jasper wildfire aftermath

Ellis said a re-entry plan is in the works and the province is still planning bus tours through town for Jasper residents, but more cleanup is needed first.

Ellis added that there will be a more concrete plan in the next day or two for people to retrieve things like trailers from the national park.

Seniors residence in Jasper destroyed by fire

One of the seniors facilities in Jasper was destroyed in the fire, Jason Nixon, provincial minister for seniors, community, and social services confirmed on Thursday.

Pine Grove Manor, a provincial facility run by the Evergreen Foundation, was home to 32 residents, according to Nixon.

Fifteen of the residents are currently at a hotel in Valemount, B.C., and the rest are with family in B.C. or Alberta.

Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland added the hotel where the seniors are staying in Valemount is owned by someone who lost a hotel in the Jasper fire.

Nixon says plans are already underway to rebuild the facility.

In the meantime, residents will be housed in hotels.

"We've arranged to make sure that they all have appropriate hotel facilities in our facilities and other Evergreen housing complexes that are with the Government of Alberta elsewhere, very close by in the county," he said.

Nixon says the remainder of the facilities in Jasper that house seniors, including the continuing care facility, appear to have survived the fire unscathed, but officials won't be able to run final tests until power and natural gas has been restored to the town.

The Alpine Senior's Lodge survived the fire that tore through Jasper on July 24, 2024. (Source: Parks Canada)

While residents wait to see when they'll be able to return to Jasper, Nixon says seniors who reside in Jasper facilities who are currently in B.C. will be brought back to Alberta starting on Friday.

"Tomorrow we will start to bring our seniors back across the line. Most of them that are in Valemount right now staying in hotels, so they will come through the park, not through the town site, and then come here to Hinton and then they'll go to a variety of different services depending on what their needs are," Nixon said.

There are about 50 seniors currently in B.C. with varying levels of care needs.

Evacuation payments

Nixon also reminded permanent residents, temporary workers, and temporary foreign workers to apply for evacuation payments.

"About half of the people that have evacuated Jasper that are eligible for payments have registered," he said.

The Alberta government is offering a one-time payment of $1,250 per adult and $500 per child, and the Red Cross is offering a one-time payment of $750 per household.

"To be clear, those evacuation payments are designed for the evacuation component," Nixon added. "This is not what it is going to take obviously to be able to support everybody as we go through the full rebuild of Jasper."