Jasper on Fire: Five Days of Hell in a Rocky Mountain Paradise (8)

by Matthew Scace

A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the Jasper Community Team Society, a long-running local non-profit operated by community volunteers.

On a brilliant sunny day at the height of the season, July 2024, residents and visitors to the picturesque tourist town of Jasper, Alberta, learned that fast-moving forest fires were burning both south and north of town. That left only one westward road out of harm’s way.

Over three frantic days, 5,000 residents and 20,000 tourists were evacuated from Jasper as firefighters used helicopters to battle flames reaching 100-feet high and leaping from tree top to tree top behind 100-kilometre-per-hour winds. The 25,000-hectare fire was so intense it likely created its own weather system and lightning. Despite heroic efforts, a third of the town was lost.

In this gripping narrative, Canadian Press reporter Matthew Scace talks to the emergency managers who organized the evacuation, the woman who was preparing to go into labour when the fires started, the firefighters who fought through the night to save what they could of the town, and the recovery team leaders travelling the long, painful road to recovery.

Jasper on Fire also takes a hard look at why the blaze happened and what can be done to prevent future disasters in our increasingly volatile climate.

Genres: Nonfiction

100 pages, Paperback

Published January 21, 2025

Reviews

[Brendan Monroe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went to Jasper National Park a few weeks ago and it was only a few short days before I arrived that I'd learned about the fire that ravaged large sections of it.

Driving up the Icefields Parkway into Jasper you're greeted with a desiccated forest. Blackened stumps dot the landscape. It's a melancholic backdrop to what was, until recently, one of the most beautiful places in the world. And it still is. Large sections of Jasper National Park are as they always have been, as it's in the strange nature of fire that you'll turn the corner following a stretch of torched landscape to find things once again lush and overgrown, as if the fire had never been.

In a strange way, the fire has only heightened the beauty of this place, perhaps due to such a vivid contrast. Unlike Banff, which was swarming with tourists, Jasper felt forgotten somehow, as if the hordes would rather not be confronted with the reality of what it means to live on a climate-ravaged planet and what, inevitably, awaits us all.

This is a short but gripping report of the fire and the events that led up to it. In a way, it serves as something of an afterword to John Vaillant's incredible Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, one of my favorite books from last year.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ridiculously good storytelling. SO well written, so human, & ended perfectly. I learned lots. Everyone should read. :)

[Jodie Grieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read - especially just after the LA fires. Learned a lot about the way fires spread!

[Erin Martin]

I won't be giving this a star review.
This read as an extremely long news article with what unfortunately felt like minimal empathy towards the residents & business owners of Jasper.
My first visit to Jasper in 2023 with my family was nothing short of perfect. My parents fell in love with the town, so much so that my dad applied for a job with Parks and they moved the following year. My dad moved to Jasper six weeks before the fire started and was part of the incident management team and also was one of the last ones to evac the town. The photos he sent of the fire moving towards town were so scary, and the phone calls were heartbreaking. (luckily my mom wasn't planning on moving out there until the fall) It was hard for her and I being so many provinces away while Dad was going through that. Luckily their place was okay and they didn't have damage even though they live in the area of town that was hardest hit.
I went to visit my parents in September of this year (a little over a year after the fire) and it was tough to see the before, during and after. When I was there, the process had begun of building/bringing in temporary housing for residents who lost everything and it was emotional to see.

[Stephanie Babych · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well-written account of the devastating wildfire in Jasper National Park and Townsite in 2024. It includes researched history of the town and area, stories from locals who were evacuated, and detailed information about the blaze itself and the efforts of firefighters and wildfire fighters. As someone who grew up in a town near Jasper, the townsite and national park are home to many childhood memories. It was devastating to hear news of the evacuations and see the images of burned buildings and homes as they were shared. This book does an excellent job showing what happened and the impact it had on so many lives. If you have any interest in Jasper National Park or the impact of climate change on wildfires, I recommend you give this a read.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at wildfires in the Canadian Prairies, which have experienced increasing drought over the past decade. Specifically this deals with the Jasper wildfire in 2024.

The author does a good job of setting the stage, explaining the work done or not done by some people to prepare for the fire they knew was coming someday. He introduces the main players; the fire chief, mayor, etc as well as various families affected.

The fire itself was described, both its path and its unusual characteristics.

Very well done. I appreciated its focus on details in a compact manner.

[Carolyn Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having recently visited Jasper, I was unprepared for the damage to the area. News reports and social media can only do so much to describe the damage. This book was recommended by Jasperites when I was visiting. There was so much I didn’t understand and probably never will about these fires. This book provided so much detail while also providing first hand accounts from so many different viewpoints. A truly heartbreaking reality for so many in the province of Alberta.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I appreciated the content, the book reads like a really long and not particularly well written news article. The subject is heart wrenching, especially for those with connections to Jasper, as I have, but the delivery is as dry as the forest that caught fire. Very little personal drama or emotion came through in the text.

[Katelyn Popplestone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written. Highlights the unpredictable nature of the fire and the challenges in responding to it. I found it interesting to read about how quickly the fire made it to Jasper and also found it interesting to read about the jurisdictional issues between federal and provincial authorities. I enjoyed the human interactions and the raw emotions. Great read.

[Aidan Kovacs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this and love jasper

[Ashleigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, short but captures the growing intensity of the situation.

[Tori Wilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great, very sad and very informative, read other than the Danielle smith parts, yawn.