National

Report says Alberta government created command challenges fighting Jasper wildfire

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 17 Jul, 2025 05:56 PM

A report into a wildfire that devastated the Rocky Mountain resort town of Jasper last summer says crews did their best but command and control was hampered by the Alberta government.

The report was commissioned by the town and surveyed participants and firefighters who battled the wind-whipped blaze that destroyed a third of buildings in the community located in Jasper National Park.

While the report says it wasn't meant to assign blame, it notes that town and Parks Canada officials trained together and had an integrated command structure, but things became challenging when the province got involved.

It says the Alberta government, while not jurisdictionally responsible to lead the crisis, made things more difficult with regular requests for information and by seeking to exercise decision-making authority.

The report says the interference disrupted the focus of incident commanders and forced them to spend precious time managing inquiries and issues instead of fighting the fire and leading the re-entry of residents.

“The response to the Jasper Wildfire Complex demonstrated the effectiveness of the strong Unified Command established by the Municipality of Jasper and Parks Canada,” said the report, issued Thursday.

“Provincial involvement added complexity to the response as the Province of Alberta, though not jurisdictionally responsible to lead the incident, regularly requested information and sought to exercise decision-making authority," stated the report.

“While Alberta Wildfire actively supported firefighting operations and participated in the (incident management team), jurisdictional overlap with the province created political challenges that disrupted the focus of incident commanders, leading to time spent managing inquiries and issues instead of directing the wildfire response and re-entry.”

A spokesman for Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said they were working on a response.

Jasper officials said they were not able to comment on the report but could do so Friday.

The fire entered the town last July 24, with 25,000 residents and visitors forced out days earlier.

The residents were out for three weeks.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Earthquake shakes Vancouver and other B.C. cities

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 has shaken Vancouver, Victoria and other B.C. cities. Natural Resources Canada says the quake was centred 24 kilometres north-northeast of Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast.

Earthquake shakes Vancouver and other B.C. cities

Heiltsuk Nation written constitution passes with 67 per cent of votes

The Heiltsuk Nation has approved the adoption of a written constitution for the First Nation on British Columbia's central coast. The nation says 67 per cent of the 725 people who voted on the referendum were in favour of the constitution.

Heiltsuk Nation written constitution passes with 67 per cent of votes

Poilievre's proposed incentives for First Nations water, resource projects draw fire

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he would incentivize First Nations to support natural-resource projects through industry taxes and revisiting how much sway Indigenous Peoples and environmental considerations have over approving projects. The proposals drew swift criticism from some experts and researchers.

Poilievre's proposed incentives for First Nations water, resource projects draw fire

Indigenous kids in care more likely to experience poor health later in life: report

Indigenous people who were in government care as children experience poorer health and socioeconomic outcomes later in life than those who were never in care, a new Statistics Canada report says. They suffer higher rates of disability, lower self-rated health levels and more homelessness, and are more likely to struggle to meet basic household needs, the report says.

Indigenous kids in care more likely to experience poor health later in life: report

Ex-coroner says B.C.'s drug policy overhaul looks like 'impulsive political decision'

British Columbia's former chief coroner says she's disappointed by the province's overhaul of its program that provides prescription alternatives to toxic street drugs, a shift she says "feels like a really impulsive political decision." Lisa Lapointe said the move to a "witnessed-only" model in which people are supervised while consuming their prescription drugs appeared to ignore scientific evidence.

Ex-coroner says B.C.'s drug policy overhaul looks like 'impulsive political decision'

Internal military report blames botched shooter drill on poor organization

During the drill, which took place on Nov. 12 at a service depot at CFB Longue-Pointe in Montreal, military police also confused a racialized employee with a drill participant playing an active shooter and wrestled him to the ground.