Jasper wildfire: Residents, business owners allowed to return this Friday

globalnews.ca:

People who were forced to flee Jasper National Park three weeks ago due to wildfires will be allowed to return home this Friday.

In an update Monday morning, officials with Jasper National Park and the Municipality of Jasper said all residents and business owners will be allowed back at the same time.

“It is a blanket re-entry, so for the entire townsite,” said Christine Nadon, incident commander with the Municipality of Jasper.

“Currently, the highway is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., so those will be the times that people will be able to travel and get to Jasper. It is for all residents and business owners to return at once in the entire town of Jasper.”

Officials said while the criteria for re-entry were met at an “unprecedented rate,” they stressed that services such as gas and water will not be up and running at 100 per cent in all areas. Wildfire destroyed about a third of the town’s buildings.

An update on the Municipality of Jasper’s Facebook page Sunday afternoon said work to restore residential gas, water and electricity services could take up to three weeks or more. Residents should be prepared to be as self-sufficient as possible, the update stated.

Nadon said electricity to critical infrastructure within the townsite has been restored to 95 per cent, natural gas has been restored to 85 per cent, telecommunications have been restored to 95 per cent, water and wastewater have been restored to 30 per cent and health care has been restored to 10 per cent.

Nadon said most utilities have been restored on the north end of town, which was less affected by fire than other areas. However, some areas of the townsite may not have water and gas restored for a few more weeks.

Nadon stressed that people should be prepared to