Jasper residents, businesses enter third day of fire-induced power outages

Half of Jasper's residents were still without power midday Wednesday, more than 50 hours after a wildfire in Jasper National Park burned down 18 power poles that service the mountain town. Just after 6 p.m. that evening, the entire town was once more without power.

In an 11 a.m. update, ATCO regional manager Amanda Mattern said "technical difficulties" troubled the company's plan to provide generator power to all residents by Tuesday evening.

"Switching generators into a utility system is very complex and we anticipated these types of challenges. To safely transfer power, small loads of electricity is added into the system and needs to be stabilized before proceeding to add the next load," she explained.

"The protection and controls of integrating generator power into the system is extremely challenging and the safety of the community and our people continues to be our first priority."

As of Wednesday noon, ATCO was expecting to re-energize the other half of the town – an estimated 2,500 residents – by the evening, so long as there were no other issues. However, the company tweeted around 6 p.m. that Jasper was experiencing an outage to the entire town. The company did not give an estimate on when power was expected to be restored. 

The latest assessment put the fire that destroyed Jasper's transmission line at about 5,500 hectares, thanks to cooler temperatures and small amounts of rain, according to a Parks Canada official.

Fire crews have been maximizing what they expect to be a short reprieve from hot weather by securing fire lines and laying hose and sprinklers, including a high-volume system along the community wildfire guard in Jasper.

"This is not a reflection of the risk to the community, but a preventative and precautionary measure on our end to ensure the protection and the safety of Jasperites and the businesses in the community," Katie Ellsworth, a fire management officer with Parks Canada, said.

On Wednesday, firefighters were continuing with that preparation as well as helping ATCO determine the extent of the damage to Jasper's power transmission line.

As of Wednesday, ATCO had determined 18 power poles were damaged by the Chetamon Wildfire.

Mattern couldn't talk about a plan to rebuild the line before a full assessment had been completed, but she said Jasper would stay on generators throughout the process, which would take several weeks.

"We are weeks – not days – out from rebuilding that transmission infrastructure," she emphasized.

She and the mayor reiterated a plea for residents to limit power usage as much as possible.

"Now is not the time to visit Jasper. We will not be welcoming and are not able to welcome visitors to Jasper until we are connected to the main power grid," mayor Richard Ireland said.

The town and surrounding communities are still considered unthreatened by the fire about 15 kilometres north of Jasper.