Amanda Mattern News Today

With fires still smouldering, a dry winter ahead, and businesses yet to catch up on costs and lost time, “it’s not over,” said Darlene Chouinard, of fire season.

With a total of 1,094 wildfires and a record 2,214,957 hectares burned, Alberta’s disastrous 2023 fire season officially ended at the beginning of November. But with fires still smouldering, a dry winter ahead, and businesses yet to catch up on costs and lost time, “it’s not over,” said Darlene Chouinard, president chair of the Edson and District Chamber of Commerce.

The Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce started off the new year with special guests from Parks Canada and ATCO during their breakfast meeting.

ATCO representatives spoke to municipal council about the company’s response to the power outage that resulted from the Chetamon wildfire.

While Jasper residents may have intermittent power, emergency officials are asking those in the national park to conserve electricity to preserve emergency capacity.

Half of Jaspers residents were still without power midday Wednesday, more than 50 hours after a wildfire in Jasper National Park burned down 18 power poles that service the mountain town. In the evening, the entire town lost power again.

Jasper, Alta. continues to experience power issues after its main grid was knocked out by wildfire.

Half of Jaspers residents were still without power midday Wednesday, more than 50 hours after a wildfire in Jasper National Park burned down 18 power poles that service the mountain town. In the evening, the entire town lost power again.

A lightning-ignited wildfire in Jasper National Park in Alberta was estimated to be 6,150 hectares as of Tuesday morning, down from the 8,000 hectares it had grown to over the weekend.

A wildfire in Alberta’s Chetamon Mountain near Jasper has rapidly spread since declared out of control on Sept. ...