Fire protection and restoration projects

Date: Spring/Fall
Size: 5-10 ha
Location: The area along the Community Fireguard (trail 8e) in the Pyramid Bench area, west of the townsite.
Additional details:
The goal of maintaining this community fireguard is to reinforce community protection in a FireSmart maintained feature. This cleared fuel break along the Cabin Lake fire road acts as a significant operational feature to manage a potential wildfire and as a line of defence for firefighters to carry out suppression activities to protect the community.

We work with the Municipality of Jasper, Alberta Forestry, BC Wildfire Service, Parks Canada National Fire Program, and other provincial and territorial fire and emergency response agencies to share information, expertise, personnel, and equipment. We train together to prepare for emergencies and share lessons learned from recent wildfires across Canada.

There are six weather stations in the park that record hourly temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed, and wind direction. We use this information, along with national weather reports, to determine the fire danger rating. This tells us how easily a fire could start, how difficult it might be to control, and how long it might burn.

We have our own dedicated initial attack team of fire first responders, along with a fire management officer, fire technician, and fire and vegetation specialist. When the fire danger rating is very high to extreme, the fire crew and a helicopter are on standby. They conduct regular patrols to check for smoke, lightning strikes, and illegal campfires.

If needed, Parks Canada has access to fire crews and specialists across the country, including five national incident management teams, who can arrive to help manage large, complex wildfire emergencies within 24-48 hours. As a partner in the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, we can also request immediate help from forest fire agencies in every province and territory in Canada and internationally.

The majority of wildfires are started by people. We have a permanent fire restriction that only allows fires in provided fire pits or boxes. This keeps campfires in places where staff can make sure that fires are burning safely and can respond quickly to any reports of unattended or uncontrolled fire. A fire ban is another fire prevention tool we can use to reduce the number of human-caused fires. Illegal fires or camping are investigated and may lead to charges and fines.

Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper are active partners in the “FireSmart” community protection program. As part of this program, we work together to thin the forest near the community, which keeps a wildfire on the ground rather than in the tree tops. When fire is on the ground, it limits fire intensity, reduces windblown embers, and makes it easier for responders to control.

Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper have been working to thin the forest around town since 2003.

This cleared fuel break on Pyramid Bench along the Cabin Lake fire road acts as a barrier to slow the spread of a wildfire and as a line of defense from which responders can carry out actions to control a fire.

Mountain pine beetles kill the trees that host them. Dead trees dry out faster than live trees. We are now using a different forest type to predict fire behaviour that better reflects the number of dead trees in our pine forest. This means that we will see more days of high to extreme fire danger, and fire bans may be in place more often and earlier than in previous years.

We are constantly assessing our approach to managing wildfire. We review and adjust plans as the environment and climate around us changes. There are always opportunities to learn and to continually improve community protection. We continue to work closely with our partners to reduce the risk of wildfire to the town and to prepare to work together in the event of an emergency.