When fire hits home: 2 narratives of Jasper wildfire evacuation

Fire burns in a residential neighbourhood in Jasper, Alta. on July 24, 2024. (Credit: Mel Dressler)

Jasper, Alberta, a forested mountain community beloved by locals and tourists alike, now stands as a stark reminder of nature’s power, and the strength of its close-knit community.

What was once a scenic, panoramic landscape is now 270 degrees of charred wilderness, the result of a series of wildfires spanning 32,000 hectares.

An estimated 25,000 people were forced to evacuate the national park on July 22, including roughly 5,000 residents of Jasper. Monika Glassford, born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, was one of them.

For Glassford, the disaster didn’t just stop with the flames—it invaded her home, leaving her life disrupted by both fire and asbestos contamination.

She is now faced with the emotional and financial task of rebuilding her life and replacing her belongings. 

It was a regular shift at Jasper Brewing Company when Glassford’s friend called her, saying that she witnessed a forest fire south of the townsite, and warned it wouldn’t be long until an official evacuation order was enforced.

Glassford left work to pack what little she could before heading west – as the fires ignited both north and south of town, adding to the complexity of the situation.

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"Unfortunately, I didn't take very much. I wasn't thinking straight,” she told The Sault Star in an interview, “But I did grab the most important things like my computer, my passport, important documents, and some outdoor gear.”

She left Jasper heading West at 9:15 p.m.– 45 minutes before an official evacuation alert came out at 9:59 p.m. She and two friends safely arrived in Mount Robson Provincial Park, where they welcomed six other evacuees throughout the night, desperate for a place to stay.

Flames over Jasper National Park on July 24, 2024. (Credit: X.com/@raebo56)

Wrae Burkhardt, who moved to Jasper National Park in May to work as a receptionist and night auditor at Sunwapta Falls Rocky Mountain Lodge, was working at the front desk when a guest reported a fire close to Athabasca Falls.

When she moved to Alberta, it was the first time she was “out on her own.” She immediately found a sense of belonging and authenticity amongst the staff at the lodge. She said the team was, “just starting to really click and get in a groove,” when they were all displaced from their homes that evening.

Burkhardt said she called into dispatch, and shortly after, “several vacant rooms quickly became zero, and the whole parking lot was filled.” People were getting stopped on the highway to Jasper due to the fires, so some rerouted to Sunwapta instead.

“We were still fine due to our location and being at a higher elevation,” said Burkhardt.

Fire burns over Jasper National Park on July 24, 2024. (Source: X)

Sunwapta tends to have lower temperatures, more precipitation than Jasper, so it was generally considered a safer spot to be. Located 53 km south of Jasper, Burkhardt figured she was safe from evacuation orders for the night, until she received the news at 10:30 p.m. that she too would need to leave her home in the mountains.

“So, you’re feeling the anxiety of your own evacuation, and then on top of that you are experiencing everyone else's evacuation because you are their source of information because Sunwapta has no cell service and limited Wi-Fi,” shared Burkhardt.

Once over 110 guests were evacuated, Sunwapta staff hit the highway towards Red Deer around 12 a.m. “Most people [in Jasper] evacuated west, but we had to evacuate south – we were the only people on the highway driving south in a row of 25 cars of all my coworkers, driving away from this place that we loved,” said Burkhardt.

On July 23, the morning following the initial evacuation, Glassford counted 11 forest fires between Mount Robson and Kamloops. Two were sizable and already being “actioned” she said, while the rest were quite small, but she could tell they were fresh.

At this point, evacuees were told to make their way back to Alberta to access support services. To avoid the fire, she headed to Kamloops for the second night, before making her way to Calgary, a designated evacuee city.

“I wasn't really thinking of losing town, or that I was going to lose my stuff,” said Glassford. “I was thinking, I wonder when we're going to go back. This is pretty inconvenient. I don't really know where to go right now.”

“The first few days felt not real,” said Burkhardt, about the time she spent in Red Deer with most of her co-workers. “Then it kind of settled in when the updates came, and we realized really what was going on and that it wasn't going to be a short thing like some of us thought.”

As evacuees travelled further from Jasper National Park, the flames crept closer, and by July 24 at about 6 p.m. the fire approached town.

Glassford had just sat down for dinner in Cochrane, just outside of Calgary, when she heard the news. At this point, the incident commander released a statement that they were pulling out all first responders that didn’t have a respirator, leaving only structural fire fighters the task of defending town at that point.

Fire burns in the town of Jasper on July 24, 2024. (Source: X)

“So basically, all last tactics were seized, and then we started to get images of actual buildings on fire which were right in my neighborhood. And at that point, my gosh—” she said gravely, “it was a complete shock, like a full body response of fear and sadness and uncertainty and, um, shock.”

She had only been living in Jasper for a year and a half, but in in such a small town, Glassford said she could recognize all the houses and remember where certain cars would normally park.

She saw photos of her neighbourhood completely engulfed in flames only a street over from hers. At this point, she was starting to fully accept that she had lost the home she created in the valley of the mountains she adored.

While collective anxiety and hopelessness was surmounting Jasper residents, it was particularly difficult for Glassford to stand by with six years of forest fire fighting experience under her belt.

“If this was 365 days ago, I would have been right there in town completely involved in it 100 per cent,” she said. “I had to understand it wasn’t my role anymore and I also had to respect the time and energy that my friends and past colleagues and coworkers were completely investing into operations, and trust they were doing everything they can.”

Glassford was hired by Jasper National Park as a forest fire fighter in May of 2023. She decided to step back from her six-year fire ranger career due to the demanding and uncertain schedule, and to focus on her teaching career.

“The next 15, 16 hours [after the fire burned through town] were the hardest part of the whole thing,” Glassford shared. There were very limited people in town the following morning which meant very little media, few photos, and sparse information.

A former colleague of hers confirmed that most of her apartment building, including her unit, was still standing. Though Glassford’s residence sustained significant structural damage, she “considered it a win” given its surroundings were almost completely leveled.

Jasper Home Hardware. (Source: Parks Canada)

The day after she received the “good” news, she travelled to Edmonton where she stayed for a week and a half with other evacuees and took advantage of the support system of restaurants and businesses offering free and discounted food and necessities.

As the severity settled in, Burkhardt travelled to Calgary where she stayed in a hotel covered by the Alberta government and was similarly supported.

Both women registered with the Red Cross to access support funds, and both received a one-time payment from the Alberta government for $1,250.

Glassford attended Edmonton Folk Fest, and Burkhardt went to Calgary Folk Fest, as Jasper evacuees were offered free entry.

“No one puts their life on pause because you had to leave your home,” said Burkhardt.

On Aug. 10, Glassford flew to Ontario where she was supported by her family and friends of Sault Ste. Marie.

She spent most of her time at her cottage in Bruce Mines, where she “found some relaxation and peace for the first time in about a month.”

She exclaimed how lucky she is to have a place to call home outside of Jasper, and such an “incredible support system to retreat back to in times of need”

At this point, Glassford was under the impression she could return mid-September to retrieve her belongings but has since been informed of “significant” asbestos contamination.

Residents are strictly prohibited from retrieving their items and were instead directed to hire a contractor certified in low-risk abatement to retrieve belongings. “And that’s where the roller coaster really took off,” said Glassford.

She expressed that her options are limited. It is upwards of $25,000 to get her apartment completely retrieved and cleaned, so most tenants are choosing to surrender their belongings.

Monika Glassford's apartment on Geikie Street in Jasper was damaged in the July 2024 wildfire. Residents were later told their belongings had been damaged by asbestos. (Source: Parks Canada)

Glassford has since settled in Lethbridge, where her partner is finishing his education.

She secured a long-term temporary teaching position at the local high school. Attempts to attain a sense of normalcy are hampered by not having 90 per cent of her personal items.

“A lot of people are there helping the community rebuild and doing everything they can to bring Jasper back to what it was and even better,” said Glassford.

“I have a lot of respect for those people, and I also remind myself that there's people like me who didn't really have a choice.”

Glassford described life in Jasper as a “mixed bag” for those who have returned. Some have lost everything, including their job, home, and favourite spots, while other residents, mainly on the east side of town, still have most structures intact.

Jasper residents began to return home on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. (Rachel CrowSpreadingWings/CTV News)

Fort McMurray survivors of the 2016 fire have been “incredibly supportive and helpful in giving advice to Jasperites,” said Glassford. “And one thing that they always kind of come back to is the way that their community has come back is stronger than ever.”

While this experience has been devastating to all the people involved, Glassford reminded The Sault Star that forest fire is a completely natural and normal cycle of the earth, and humans have only begun to suppress fires for the last couple hundred years.

Mark Boyce, a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta warned, "Without fire, dead trees and branches can build up on the forest floor, providing more fuel for larger, hotter blazes."

Fire crew in the Maligne Valley of Jasper National Park after wildfire swept through the area. (Source: Parks Canada)

The magnitude of the fire was “no surprise” given the history of fire suppression in the area.

The weeks leading up to the fire were marked by extreme heat and little rainfall, creating highly favourable conditions for a wildfire to start and spread.

“As humans, this is devastating, this is sad, this is shocking and just unprecedented in terms of what we're experiencing emotionally,” said Glassford, “but when it comes to the actual forest, in my opinion, you know, it's cheering and hooting and hollering, because finally it has a chance to renew itself and grow back.”

“There are good things that can come from this,” said Glassford, despite getting laid off both of her serving jobs at Jasper Brewing Company and Harvest Food and Drink.

Burkhardt also lost her job at Sunwapta.

Even though the lodge was spared by about an 8 km margin, “the extended closure has necessitated a thorough assessment by health professionals before restoration crews can proceed with the delicate process of making our lodge safe and ready for reopening,” said CEO Paul Corlett, on the company’s website.

They are looking forward to reopening in May 2025.

The south gate to Jasper National Park was destroyed in the wildfire. The before and after images, posted by Parks Canada on Aug. 1, show the fire and resulting destruction. (Source: Parks Canada)

After a road trip around British Columbia, Burkhardt retrieved her items from the lodge on Aug. 30, and then headed back to her home in Searchmont, Ont. where she is today, working for Searchmont Resort and still processing what has happened to her.

“We were experiencing all this, but as a privileged Canadian you don’t really realize how crazy it is, which it what makes it hard to ask for help,” said Burkhardt. “At the same time, it doesn't make anything you go through less traumatic or significant just because you do have those privileges.”

While she hadn’t planned on returning so soon, Burkhardt acknowledges that it's “good to have a strong support system [in Sault Ste. Marie and Searchmont].”

Both women emphasized that nobody thinks this is going to happen to them, and both stress the importance of being grateful for what you have now, because loss can be experienced at any time.

Glassford advises people to look out for the people around you, “so that when disaster does inevitably strike at some point in your life, you feel supported, and you can also offer support to other people.

Put effort into the connections in your community so when you do need to lean on each other, there's already a foundation of support.”

She also urges people to visit Jasper once it is rebuilt.

Patricia Street and Pyramid Lake Road on July 26, 2024 where many buildings were saved from the fire. (Source: Parks Canada)

Burkhardt and Glassford plan on returning within the next year. Burkhardt said that she has “unfinished business” in Jasper and is eager to go back and “complete the cycle.”

Similarly, Glassford shared, “It’s incredibly hard to close that chapter and continue strutting on forward when there's still a lot unfinished in Jasper.”

On top of the emotional impact of leaving her home and community behind, Glassford lost an estimated $20,000 worth of uninsured items from inside of her home.

“It’s funny,” reflected Burkhardt about the drive to her interview with The Sault Star, “on a cloudy day like this driving on the Searchmont highway, you can’t see the tops of the hills and I think about the mountains being under there.”

Though the fire burned more than 2,000 kilometers away, the narratives of loss, uncertainty and resiliency still hit close to home and emphasize, more than anything, the power and importance of community.

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