Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said emergency services such as Emergency Medical Services, fire, police, and 911 dispatch have relaunched in Jasper after the wildfire. However, Ellis said work is progressing to bring other critical services such as electricity, water, gas, telecommunications, and healthcare back up and running and has started to remove downed trees in and around the Jasper townsite. “Residents should be aware that the municipality has posted a re-entry progress tracker on their website, which provides an overview of all of the work that’s being done before people can return home,” said Ellis at a Friday press conference. “It’s standard for this work to take time, and we appreciate the patience of everyone who has been displaced.” He said bus tours of the Jasper townsite remain ongoing. Over the last four days, he said more than 130 Jasperites have toured the townsite. Two bus tours were scheduled for Friday — one from Valemount, BC, and another from Hinton. Two bus tours left on Thursday — one from Hinton and another from Calgary. At the moment, he confirmed the Alberta government is in the process of scheduling more tours. He called these tours “a critical component of healing and of course the recovery process.” If Jasperites want to register for tours, he said they can go to alberta.ca/emergency or by calling (780) 310-4455. He added all Jasperites who want to tour the community will be able to do so. He said Hwy. 16 has reopened to all traffic between 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The incident management team in Jasper will keep Hwy. 16 open at these hours depending on local conditions. In closing, Ellis said the Alberta government continues to see positive developments in many parts of the province, but it is possible for new evacuation alerts to happen. He encouraged all Albertans to think ahead and make use of the information on alberta.ca/beprepared. Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen thanked the firefighters and first responders who continue to suppress the wildfires and keep Albertans safe. “Unfortunately, this week has been a stark reminder that the work these individuals do is incredibly dangerous,” said Loewen. “On Saturday, Aug. 3, one of our heroic wildland firefighters was killed in the line of duty.” In honour of Alberta Wildfire firefighter Morgan Kitchen’s sacrifice, Loewen said flags will be flown at half mast at all Forestry and Parks facilities. He said no words will make Kitchen’s loss easier, but he hopes those closest to him know he gave his life doing an important job. Alberta Wildfire provincial wildfire information officer Melissa Story went on to say there are 111 wildfires burning in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta. “Of those, 13 are classified as out of control, 35 are classified as being held, and 63 are under control,” said Story. “Since the beginning of August, there have been only 35 new wildfire starts and over two-thirds of them have been extinguished.” Story said crews are focusing on the current wildfires burning across Alberta and responding to new starts. The southern parts of it have benefited from rain and enabled Alberta Wildfire to make progress. Ellis followed up by saying many of the challenges of bringing emergency services back online had to do with electricity. “Some of our electrical companies were having to bring those services online,” he said. “We saw power poles had gone down.” In response, he said the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) collaborated with the incident command team to ensure all available resources were going up. He acknowledged much of it had to do with debris going down in the community and ensuring infrastructure and work was getting completed. AEMA Deputy Managing Director Joe Zatylny said on Thursday Hwy. 16 will reopen to all vehicles on Friday and will allow them daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. depending on local conditions with the wildfire. READ MORE: Alberta emergencies official says Hwy. 16 to reopen to all traffic on FridayZatylny said this will apply to commercial traffic, but the conditions are subject to change based on the situation in Jasper National Park. “It’s also important for drivers to keep in mind that there’s no stopping or exiting off Hwy. 16,” said Zatylny.
