One Saskatchewan family’s journey out of a burning Jasper

As wood fires rage successful Jasper, Alta., thousands of group person been forced to flee, including immoderate from Saskatchewan.

For 1 Saskatoon family, it was a scary evening arsenic 1 infinitesimal they were having supper while camping successful Jasper and nan next, they were trying to time off pinch a crowd of others.

“We were benignant of astatine nan tail extremity of almost a month-long canoe and roadworthy travel that we had taken,” Bryan Sarauer said. “We’d been up to nan Yukon and had done immoderate paddling up location and done Alaska and backmost done B.C., and we’d travel down here.

“Monday, it was a beautiful afternoon. We had been retired canoeing not acold from nan townsite. And we came backmost successful for supper.… When we started to person supper location was fume and you could spot helicopters flying around.”

Sarauer said that arsenic nan upwind changed and nan upwind picked up, umbrellas were flying down nan street.

They soon recovered retired roads were closing and group were being evacuated.

“We started noticing that nan lineups astatine nan state stations were by past blocks long,” Sarauer said.

They went backmost to nan campground wherever they were staying.

Once nan municipality was fixed an removal order, they deed nan roadworthy — slowly. Sarauer said what usually is simply a seven-hour travel location has taken him 3 days.

“It took america 3 hours to spell little than 3 kilometres to get retired of that campsite. That occurrence was moving astatine times faster than we were driving.”

Overall it took little than 2 days for fast-moving wildfires to scope nan Alberta Rocky Mountain municipality of Jasper, wherever aggregate structures were burned Wednesday night.

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About 25,000 group were evacuated from nan park, including astir 5,000 residents of nan town, according to Parks Canada.

Sarauer said while his family’s business was scary to woody with, it was thing compared to nan group really surviving there.

“I’ve been looking for updates and hoping for nan champion — fingers crossed, everyone is OK. It’s a spot we really enjoy. My woman and I spent our honeymoon location almost 26 years ago.”

As acold arsenic Saskatchewan’s wildfire business goes, nan Saskatchewan Public Safety Association (SPSA) said arsenic of Thursday afternoon, much than 100 fires proceed to pain successful nan north, 14 of which are not contained.

SPSA vice-president Steve Roberts said nan state doesn’t person nan capacity to nonstop unit to thief successful Alberta’s firefight.

Earlier this week, resources from Manitoba and Ontario were deployed to assistance successful Saskatchewan.