Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.
JASPER NATIONAL PARK – Richard Ireland’s eyes filled with tears as he stared in silence towards his home and saw the memories of a lifetime burn to ashes.
Then Jasper’s mayor leans over what’s left of the cozy little home he grew up in – a chunk of concrete wall – and says all he can think about is a framed photograph taken after i’ w family moved in when he was two years old. years old, lost somewhere in the rubble.
“We grew up here… a family of five children and our parents, and we almost always had at least one grandparent living with us,” the 69-year-old said on Friday during his first visit to where his home once stood. the historic Rocky Mountain resort town before wildfires burned it down.
“That’s the way life was lived in those days… an extended family all under one roof. My home was full of memories,” he said while holding back tears, his lips quivering.
His brothers and sisters moved away from his home after and more memories were formed of his own children growing up in the home. He feels sad for the hundreds of photographs of those moments that have now been burned to ashes.
But although the ashes of his home lie beneath his feet, Ireland says he is proud that his garage is still standing, with his grandchildren’s toys inside.
“We will rebuild,” he said.
He notes that the homes of his neighbors on both sides of him are standing without a scratch, which is a reflection of how the wildfires destroyed a third of all the structures in Jasper, mainly in the western part of the town in mostly, or leave them grey, ashy, mangled. and covered with soot.
During a tour of the town with Ireland, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and other dignitaries on Friday, the indiscriminate nature of the wildfires was visible everywhere, with the magnificent mountain peaks of Jasper National Park overlooking the devastation.
A trailer park on Cabin Creek Drive in west Jasper has been destroyed, and the mangled pieces of scrap metal that remain are covered in gray ash and black soot.
The charred skeleton of a bright yellow pickup truck sits nearby with its metallic skid plate melted onto the concrete. A lot of smoke is floating up from the ground in some places. There is shattered glass everywhere.
Across the street, however, a row of homes was spared.
Household items, such as chairs, tires, propane tanks and Halloween decorations could be seen on the sidewalk in front of the homes.
James Eastham, an information officer with Parks Canada who was part of the trip, says the items are highly flammable and were brought out by firefighters as a precautionary measure while around 5,000 Jasper residents and 20,000 visitors have u forced to flee Monday night as two. fires spread to the town from the north and south.
Jasper’s iconic Maligne Lodge burned to the ground on Wednesday when winds of around 120 kilometers per hour pushed a 100 meter high fire wall into the town.
On Friday, a sign for the lodge stood still while the lodge itself on Connaught Drive was destroyed. Firefighters were seen still pouring water over only the skeleton of the entrances to the rooms that resisted the flames.
Mangled red chairs, where tourists once rested, were seen in front of the lodge.
Down the street, the Petro-Canada gas station has been obliterated. The silver colored steel skeleton of the gas pumps was seen falling over and pieces of wood from the station’s roof scattered across the ground.
Nearby, only a few feet of cinders, a brick wall and tower remain of the Anglican Church of St. Mary and St. George, where Jasper residents have been gathering since 1928 to pray and attend weddings.
Elsewhere in the town, cars were parked on grass fields, away from flammable homes. The residents left them there before they fled.
Piles of wood and other burnt material, unidentifiable, pushed into a pile by diggers were seen around the town.
After the tour, Ireland told reporters that he felt hopeful even though 30 percent of the Jasper town site was destroyed.
“That’s important because we have 70 per cent of the base to work from,” he said.
He said he plans to approach the work of rebuilding Jasper knowing that he is going through what many other residents are going through after losing their homes.
“Their pain is unbearable,” he said. “I feel (their) pain.”
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on July 26, 2024.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
source link https://canadanewsmedia.ca/we-will-rebuild-a-look-inside-the-wildfire-devastation-in-jasper/
