Wildfire Near Jasper National Park Prompts Evacuation and Highway Closures

Multiple wildfires in Jasper National Park flared up with a vengeance late July 22 night, forcing all park visitors along with the 4,700 residents of the Jasper townsite to flee west with little notice over mountain roads through darkness, soot and ash. Photos and video shared on social media illuminated a midnight cavalcade of bumper-to-bumper cars and trucks, headlights on, red tail lights glowing, cars inching, stopping, starting, crawling through swirling tendrils of acrid smoke. “It’s wall-to-wall traffic,” said Edmonton resident Carolyn Campbell in a phone interview from her vehicle. “It (the smoke) is pretty thick. We’ve got masks in the car.”...