Amid the ongoing raging wildfires in Canada caused due to the scorching heat in the Northern Hemisphere, the Canadian authorities on late Monday ordered an evacuation of the Jasper National Park and Town of Jasper, located in Western Canada. Due to the wildfires, thousands of people have already fled their homes in the past four days here as massive blazes continue to spread through the region.
In its statement, the Municipality of Jasper stated that the fire had originally been expected to reach the community within five hours, but was no longer expected to do so. However, as a precautionary measure, the authorities said that the Town of Jasper and the national park should be evacuated, news agency Reuters reported.
This forced around 4,700 residents of Jasper to evacuate their homes late night and flee west into British Columbia.
On Monday, there were over 160 active wildfires in Alberta as a result of which around 7,500 people are under evacuation orders in the province, The New York Times reported.
One of the largest wildfires in Alberta, the Semo Complex Fire, has burned 96,000 acres of land and is one of the dozens, characterised as "out of control".
The officials have also warned weeks more of scorching temperatures ahead that will mount pressure on the fire crews, already battling in the parched region to douse the flames.
900 Active Wildfires Burning In Canada
Wildfires have been raging in the Western US and Canada caused due to the blistering heat in the Northern Hemisphere.
This has prompted evacuations of three communities in the northern part of Canada's Alberta last week. Besides the wildfires in Alberta, around 367 active wildfires are also burning in the neighbouring British Columbia, Reuters reported.
The British Columbia wildfire service stated that its crews were fighting more than 300 blazes, most of which have been classified as "out of control". In an update, it said that the fire supression efforts were being challenged amidst hot, dry conditions and localised winds, The Guardian reported.
Earlier in July, Canada's second-largest oil company, Suncor, had to temporarily curtaol its production and evacuate non-essential workers from its 2,15,000 barrels-per-day firebag site due to a fire that was burning roughly eight kilometres away.
Canada is anticipating a wildfire season that the government suggested could be even worse than the one witnessed last year. In 2023, the wildfire season in Canada saw record-breaking 7,100 blazes that burned millions of acres, the effect of which was seen in the US, where the cities as far south as Florida were blanketed in smoke, The New York Times reported.
The wildfire season in Canada typically lasts from March to October, with the fires picking up across the western Canada in May.
The Cananadian wildfires have prompted air quality warning by the government in places including Wisconsin and Minnesota. The officials also suggest that this year's fire season would witness around 3,00,00 hectares burned by autumn.
Jasper is home to a population of about 5,000 people. However, there can be around 12,000 seasonal workers who live there every year.
The Jasper National Park is a one of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Out of the 900 active fires blazing across the country, 352 of them have been classified as "out of control."