Jasper residents begin reentry after wildfire

Jasper, Alta., residents are beginning to return home Friday morning after a wildfire destroyed about a third of the townsite three weeks ago.

Residents will be allowed into the Town of Jasper as of 7 a.m., but visitors won’t be allowed in yet.

People who live in Jasper will be asked to show their Parks Canada-issued resident parking pass and will receive a re-entry guide.

“RCMP will be stationed at the east entrance ensuring everyone entering has a resident re-entry guide,” Parks Canada said. “The only entrance to town will be the east entrance.”

Drivers who don’t have a resident re-entry guide will be directed to drive through the park on Highway 16.

“Friday will be a day of deep emotion for residents returning for the first time,” Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland told reporters on Wednesday.

“We ask today that you continue to respect the very raw emotion that accompanies the grief that our residents are going to see on Friday.”

Residents were warned to prepare themselves for a town that looks, and smells, different than they remember.

“The photos that people are seeing that have been going around on social media likely won’t prepare everybody for the impact that coming back into town is going to have,” Jonathan Large of Parks Canada said. “In some areas, it has more of an acidic smell that you would get with burning plastics. In other areas, it’s more just the dust you would get from an older campfire,” Large said.

“We really want people to be aware of what they’re coming into.”

Jasperites evacuated the townsite on July 29.

More to come…

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Karyn Mulcahy