Two hours after the news that a massive wildfire had reached the town of Jasper, Carstairs Fire Chief Jordan Schaffer and several other firefighters were dispatched to the town.
Within hours, he and several other firefighters from his department as well as Didsbury firefighters were in the thick of one of the largest wildfires in the national park's history.
"When we got there, the wildfire had already come through; the town was well on fire by that time," he said. "It was pitch black when we got there, so we couldn't see where the forest fire was due to all the smoke."
The firefighters were immediately deployed to the southwestern end of Jasper's townsite.
"We went right to work and we worked non-stop until 5 pm that night, two hours asleep, and then went back at it for another six hours and got to sleep at about 3 am and it was back to work by 7 am," he said. "We did a 12-hour shift and then our schedule started getting more in line with a little more sleep, but not a lot."
Fire Chief Schaffer who was also deployed during the devastating 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires said that while that wildfire was the worst he had seen, the Jasper wildfire had its own set of complications from an operational standpoint, though he said the local fire crews did a commendable job of setting up a line of defence.
"They did best they could in a situation like that. The problem [is] that they're so secluded and trying to get resources up there, where crews were coming all the way down from the U.S. border to assist [in] the middle of the night that night," Chief Schaffer explained. "It was a tough one to do and the guys that were there before we got there did a great job... Unfortunately, there's just not enough water in the world that could have stopped that fire."
The out-of-control wildfire is estimated to be approximately 32,000 hectares, having devastated 30 per cent of the town's structures.
"One of the biggest issues with any of these deployments is water; access to water, access to water [if] infrastructure goes down. Every fire truck there was pulling water from hydrants and then we had trucks hauling [it] in. Unfortunately, we [had to] triage houses. So, if a house has gotten so much damage that it's not savable, you move onto the next house."
However, the Fire Chief did note that two of the houses that the local fire crews, were assigned to were saved.
"Both are still standing to this day due to our operations; not just of Carstairs, but our mutual aid departments that were up there supporting us with either tactical operations or either hauling us water."
Other local fire departments that were deployed to Jasper also included Didsbury, Beiseker, as well as Olds. Although Fire Chief Schaffer had not been to Jasper prior, he says the experience has left him worried about another Alberta treasure: Banff.
"That's something that now worries me; What can we do to stop [this from happening] in Banff? I know that the Fire Chiefs in the province are building programs to make sure that the town of Banff is protected... But, it's emotional knowing that there's such a beautiful place that can be damaged; but the crews out there, the locals, were already talking about rebuilding and that was great to see."
Yesterday, a crew change was initiated for members of the Carstairs Fire Department. When asked if Chief Schaffer expects to be re-deployed he said he isn't sure at the moment.
"Right now our crews are up at an area called Edith Lake and they are prepping up there with sprinkler lines. We will see probably Wednesday if redeployments are going back up for another crew," he added. "Friday is our scheduled date to bring the apparatus back, but it may be extended depending on the wildfire operations out there and see what changes."
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