'Perfect storm': Jasper's deputy fire chief says 2024 wildfire was matter of time
'Especially with the pine beetles, when all of the trees were red, it was really obvious to just look out your window and see dead trees all through the valley. And you think, oh, we have a million dead Christmas trees standing in our forest.'
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But, as much as someone can prepare for the thing, when the thing actually comes, it's a whole different level of hell.
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Smith was born and raised in Jasper. His mother was born in Jasper. His grandparents were married in Jasper close to a century ago. And, throughout those generations, nothing came close to last year's wildfire.
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'Having a catastrophic event like this, it turned into a bigger event than we'd feared,' he said. 'You hope that all of your planning and resources will fall into place and you'll have a good chance to stop it. Of course, what we've seen in the last 15, 20 years, around the province and all over the world, for that matter, is where you get these situations where it goes beyond. It's perfect-storm conditions. It's weeks of hot, dry weather and crazy high winds and it turns into something much, much more.'
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Last year, when they found out on July 22 that the fire was bearing towards town, the fire department knew it had less than two days to prepare for whatever was going to be thrown its way. Firefighters from nearby towns and counties, Grande Cache, Hinton and Parkland County, arrived to help out. And, when it became clear that the town was going to take a direct hit from the fire, what amounted to an all-points bulletin was issued from the command centre. Any available firefighter would be welcome.
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They worked on prepping the critical infrastructure; the hospital, RCMP station and utilities. All those scenarios they had worried about were playing out to the nth degree. And then the smoke plume flattened out, plunging afternoon into night. And then came the winds. Smith said his crew saw patio furniture strewn about Jasper's streets.
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And then came the embers, propelled by those winds. The crews got to the fires as quickly as they could, but all they could do was play catch-up. And what Smith remembers is just how quickly it was all over.
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The return
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The day Smith will never forget is when the gates were lifted and residents came back into town. The fire department awaited their arrival.
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'The event itself was very traumatic, but the emotions really played in afterwards,' he said.
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'The day that people got to come back to town was super dramatic, way more super emotional than just some people coming back to seeing that their house was OK. We didn't anticipate that. We were just happy, like, really happy. So, we decided to meet them as they opened the gates to let people into town. We really didn't anticipate the reaction of folks returning, because, you know, they were very emotional. Once they saw the fire department, they were losing it, big time. I don't think I've ever seen so many people crying, bawling.'
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But Smith understands the July 22 commemoration will bring back raw emotions for his firefighters and their fellow Jasper residents. He said about a third of his crew lost their homes a year ago. The fire department moved to having four full-time staff, to allow volunteers some more time off to heal. While Smith didn't lose his home, his son, a railway engineer, had to move back in with mom and dad. They're also hosting a seasonal worker. The Smiths' once-empty nest is full again. He said for many residents, the anniversary will be a reminder that a year has passed, and they still don't have permanent homes to live in. It will remind them just how slow the rebuild is going. The municipality is expecting the recovery to be a decade-long process.
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As well, the fire department makes sure to rotate staff when it comes to speaking at public events or to the media. If one person has to keep reliving the day the fire hit town, it's too much.
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What Smith is happy about is that the department hasn't lost any volunteers. He said the trends in volunteer departments is that they shed members after major, traumatic events. But the mental well-being of the team is always on his mind.
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'It's tricky with mental health,' he said. 'Every single person's going to react differently. They're going to have different experiences, different expectations. Some of them were really good in the beginning and then, later on, realized maybe they weren't as good as they thought they were. Some of them were quite shocked the ovewhelming factors of everything that happened. We have had a lot of support. They started to bring in teams early, from Alberta Mental Health Services and we had some private guys coming in as well. We've really followed that up as a department and as a municipality and we've got a program in place for folks.'
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