‘Full box of emotions’: Rebuild progress slow in Jasper one year after wildfire

A worker walks in a devastated neighbourhood in west Jasper, Alta., on Monday, Aug.19, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Amber Bracken

After 45 years in their Jasper home, it took mere minutes for Wes Bradford’s quaint mountain abode to burn to a pile of ash.

A year later, he and his wife are itching to rebuild. They’ve hired a contractor and designer, and their insurance will cover the expected $1-million price tag. But they can’t start yet — not until their empty lot, currently a flat mound of dirt, has been declared contaminant-free.

“We’re up against the wall,” says Bradford, after meeting their builder in Jasper the day before.

“This contaminant issue could stall our build by — who knows — is it four months? Six months? A year? Our builder wants to start building our house by mid-September, but he can’t. It’s dead in the water.”

On July 24, 2024, a devastating wildfire swept through the remote mountain town in Jasper National Park in Alberta’s Rockies, incinerating a third of its structures.

The Bradfords were told by firefighters that their home — built in 1954 with a light-grey exterior, brown fence and large metal star above a front window — was likely destroyed in less than 10 minutes.

In the rubble, they recovered old national park boundary markers, Wes Bradford’s Parks Canada belt buckles from his days as a warden, and his wedding ring, which he got in the habit of not wearing over the years to avoid it catching on something while he was in the field.

The couple are living in Hinton, Alta., about an hour’s drive east of Jasper — its nearest community. A lot has happened since residents were able to return late last August. Hollow plots through the Cabin Creek neighbourhood in the town’s west end have been filled with soil. The rusted orange shells of cars and broken glass have been cleaned off the streets.

Rebuilding

Jasper now faces the great challenge: rebuilding itself.

“Jasper has never experienced the level of construction activity that’s going to take place over the next several years,” says Doug Olthof, acting director of the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre.

Only the lilac bushes in front of his house were singed by the fire. Across the street, an entire row of houses was destroyed. “Some days what you’re looking at is progress towards recovery,” he says of the daily view from his doorstep. “Other days, it’s just very sad.”

He says he expects the full residential rebuild will take five to 10 years.

So far, 114 properties have been cleared for construction while 71 remain held up by soil-testing requirements for contaminants, says the town’s latest update to council. Development permits have been issued to 40 fire-impacted homes, along with a handful of multiplexes, hotels, commercial properties and others, says the report from July 8.

Full swing

With tourism season in full swing, much of the town is trying to cash in on summer money. Jasper lost 20 per cent of its accommodations in the fire, and its tourism agency says Jasper hotels and residences have been almost full since the May long weekend.

The lingering emotional impacts of the fire have varied in the year since the fire, says Dave Smith, a former vegetation specialist for Parks Canada in Jasper. “It’s just a full box of emotions, both negative and positive,” Smith says.

His home survived the fire along with all the houses on the east side of Jasper. From his front porch, it’s as if the fire never happened. Lawns along his street are mowed and a neighbour recently held a wedding in front of their house.

Confusion

Smith says there’s still confusion among locals about what happened.

“I feel sorry for some of the firefighters who put their heart and soul into protecting this town who aren’t getting the praise they should get, because nobody’s telling the story of what really happened,” said Smith. “When people don’t get information, they make up information.”

Parks Canada is conducting its own formal review of the fire and response, which is not yet public. Last week, the town published its own review based on surveys and interviews with more than 300 firefighters and other emergency personnel.

The town’s report said the overall response to the wildfire was a success, but noted some issues were caused by the Alberta government trying to get more involved in a decision-making capacity.

The report prompted Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to demand an apology and retraction of the report, saying her government is not to blame and that Ottawa should’ve asked for help sooner.

Back in Jasper, no two assessments of the town are the same. Oliver Andrew, manager of the century-old Astoria Hotel on Jasper’s main drag, says the town is stronger than ever. But the lifelong Jasperite says some friends have decided to leave for good.

Big changes are coming for the 35-room boutique hotel. Andrew has decided the hotel’s cedar shake roof — a highly flammable material featured on several of the homes lost in the fire — is soon to be replaced with a fireproof material. He estimates the job will cost about $50,000.

Though progress is slow, Andrew said the fire has encouraged the town to embrace a rebuild that will help fireproof the community and address long-standing issues, including its zero per cent vacancy rate.

“Jasper’s been reinvigorated by this — which, in a funny sense, the purpose of a fire is to regenerate itself,” Andrew said.

“The 12-month goal is onwards and upwards.”

--Matthew Scace

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2025.