Jasper has always been good at welcoming people.
It’s what we do. We like introducing guests to our trails, our swimming holes and our views. We like sharing our deadliest fishing flies, our choicest bike rides and our favourite local restaurants.
We like helping those from afar feel that our home is their home. But now it’s Jasperites who could use some help.
Right now, from all different parts of Alberta and B.C., 4,700 displaced Jasperites are watching firefighters battle the still out-of-control wildfire that destroyed hundreds of our homes and businesses on July 24.
And right now, communities across the Rockies and the Columbia Mountains—from Hinton to Valemount, Banff to Revelstoke, Canmore to Nelson—are taking care of us while we’re in limbo. As we await word on when we might be able to re-enter the community to begin the immense process of rebuilding, our lives are full of uncertainty.
Where will those who lost their homes live? Where will we work? Where will our kids go to school in the fall? What building blocks will we be able to start with?
We understand that we have to be patient. We understand that eventually, answers to those questions will come. But it’s hard not knowing. It’s hard being apart from each other.
In Jasper, as in all mountain communities, our role models are mountain people: climbers, explorers, adventurers—outfitters that blazed the trails that keep so many of us attached to our sense of place here.
But we’ve got new role models now. When I consider how to talk to my kids about what’s next, I’ll think of the compassionate, honest leadership demonstrated by the first responders, incident commanders and community officials who made a heroic effort to save our town.
The Jasper wildfire is a once-in-a-century event. It started in a perfect storm of extreme conditions. There was only so much that could be done. Now, however, there is much to be done. We will be strong. We will be resilient. And we will rely on the goodwill of our friends and neighbours.
It’s hard not knowing what’s next. But like residents of other forested, mountainous communities, we take solace in knowing we are all connected.
–Bob Covey, publisher, Mountain Life Rocky Mountains
To support Jasper, consider donating to the Jasper Community Team Society’s Caring Community Fund.
