Canada: Jasper Fire 'Could Burn For Months', Over 20,000 People Evacuated

The fires, which broke out on Thursday, triggered the evacuated of over 20,000 people from the town. Hundreds of structures in the Canadian town have been destroyed due to the wildfires.

"We're going to be working on this wildfire, we expect, over the next three months at least,” stated Landon Shepherd, a deputy incident commander, at a news conference in the nearby community of Hinton.

“What the last five years has taught us is that the fire season in Jasper tends to last well into the fall," Shepherd added further.

As per the update from Parks Canada, the operations to douse the fires have been processing well. However, despite rains in the region, several active hotspots remain.

The wildfire, which mainly impacted Jasper National Park - one of the biggest national parks for the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, prompted the evacuation of over 20,000 people in and around the town due to fast-moving nature of the fire.

Parks Canada has further shared that 358 of the town's 1,113 structures have been destroyed.

With support form the federal government and the neighbouring provincies, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has stated that residents of Jasper would not be able to return for the next 28 days.

As per provincial wildfire officials, around 17,100 Albertans were evacuated due to wildfires as of Saturday. In addition to this, several tourists and out-of-towners were also evacuated.

As per the data released by the Canadian province, around 157 wildfires are burning across Alberta. Of this, 44 have been classified as out of control, 45 are being held and 68 fires are under control.

(With inputs from AP)