‘Cautiously optimistic’: Jasper residents reflect on future post-fire

Peter Shokeir,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

When Herb Robinson returned to Jasper with his two sons-in-law several days after re-entry was allowed, they were “gobsmacked” by the devastation the wildfires had caused.

His two adjoining houses had survived, even though his neighbour’s home across the alley did not. They have since been busy cleaning the houses and disposing of contaminated fridges and freezers, which were especially heavy since they had contained food for Robinson’s 70th birthday party.

“It’s difficult to itemize food loss when your insurance company will give you an X value for the contents of each fridge that you might have to dispose of because obviously they’re not opening any doors after they’ve been sitting dormant with no power,” he said in a phone interview. “But anyway, that’s a small problem compared to what lots of people are facing.”

Robinson still hasn’t settled back into his home and is mainly there to clean and restore while heading back to Calgary periodically. He noted that one house may have been contaminated with asbestos that blew in from the remains of a nearby destroyed building.

Robinson, who served as past president of the Jasper-Yellowhead Historical Society, also reported the museum and archives remained standing, but several board and staff members had lost their homes.

While he had faith that Jasper could recover, he was worried about roadblocks regarding permitting, which is handled by Parks Canada. As an example, he told how the historical society had been waiting six months for permission to add a modular building.

“If that’s what occurs in the next five years as people are trying to rebuild, I don’t know, it’s going to be a nightmare,” Robinson said.

“That’s an example of where there needs to be a very, very close look at development processes in Jasper, whether that means the municipality should have more involvement or Parks Canada just has to be less bureaucratic.”

Robinson hoped such change would not only help rebuild Jasper but also in the long term be a silver lining to a catastrophic situation.

“One crosses one’s fingers and hopes that enough people get engaged that it does bring about some positive rebuilding,” he said. “There’s no doubt the community will not go away. It’s going to rebuild for sure.”

Jasper residents are ‘cautiously optimistic’

David Baker, who works for SunDog Tours, has been busing residents between Edmonton and Jasper daily since re-entry began.

He estimated there were at least 20 passengers per trip.

“It’s quite popular because some people’s cars are burned-out hulks in their driveway, and some are getting on in Hinton to go to the city because they’re living there because there’s no apartment for them in Jasper,” he said.

Baker said his passengers were typically depressed, anxious or simply sleepy when travelling to and from their devastated town, but Jasper residents were nonetheless optimists at their core.

“I’ve lived there for 24 years because of that,” he said. “I mean, it’s beautiful scenery, that’s true, but that’s all over the world. But what makes Jasper the place that it is, is the people, and their mood could be best described as cautiously optimistic.”

Baker still has his apartment, but it requires a deep clean, his landlord had to take away his “zombie fridge” and an air scrubber has been installed.

“It’s different,” he confessed. “Being back there is almost like being at somebody else’s house, and yet it’s familiar, and the more I clean it, the more time I spend in it, the more it feels like the same old home.”

While his work routine is fairly set, a personal routine won’t be established until the apartment is completely clean. He also works as a freelance cameraman but lost his studio space in the industrial park, so he will likely spend more time at the Library and Cultural Centre.

Baker has been having trouble navigating the “charred landscape,” but he is thankful to have the Royal Canadian Legion where they are serving free meals and people are able to socialize.

“It’s a place for people to come together and break bread and share stories,” he said. “I think they’ve done a wonderful job of bringing community to the people that are just finding their way in this brave new world that we’re living in.”

Many residents have been shocked at what they have found in Jasper. Baker noted, for example, how Mount Edith Cavell was not the same mountain and had “a rusty brown, gray mask” the first time he saw it.

“It was like seeing a friend of yours after a car accident in the hospital, and then the other day, we had a bit of fresh snowfall on Cavell, and she got some of her white colouring back,” Baker said.

“And it’s an abstract thing to say, but I thought I won the lottery because that is one of my favourite mountains and she was looking beautiful again, so maybe a metaphor, if you will, for what’s ahead.”

‘Jasper has lost so much on so many levels’

Greg Van Tighem, a former Jasper fire chief, works at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge where he serves as the fire department training officer and a contractual FireSmart/structural protection specialist.

In the days before the fire hit, he was working with fire crews at the lodge to set up sprinkler systems and perimeter protection around structures.

He also worked with the Crisis Team to help provide mental health support to individual first responders and groups.

“I never actually left Jasper as I have been at the Fairmont almost every day since the event,” Van Tighem said in an email. “For most of the time, I was staying outside of Hinton in the evening.”

As the president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 31 in Jasper, Van Tighem expressed pride in the efforts put forward by the management and staff of the small-town Legion.

He was also “very humbled” by the response from the Jasper community, neighbouring communities and response agencies.

“Everyone has really stepped up and contributed to helping us keep the doors open to support so many people,” he said.

Van Tighem confessed that things didn’t feel normal in Jasper yet and likely never would.

“Jasper has lost so much on so many levels, so many people are devastated,” he said. “It will be a long time before we get back to or even close to what you may call normal.”

“It’s a process and it will be different for everyone,” he added. “Most people I have talked to are very positive about their personal situations. I am very confident that Jasper will rebuild, and that Jasper will thrive once again. Right now, it’s all about the community and the people. My heart goes out to everyone.”

‘Everything has changed’

Elizabeth McLachlan was able to return to Jasper earlier than most because she was on a crew in the townsite before the re-entry, putting up blue perimeter fencing around destroyed properties.

“It felt surreal and heart-breaking to see it in person – to smell it, walk within it, get covered in the ashes and sweat in it,” she said in an email. “My adrenaline was pumping overtime, and it was an experience I feel blessed to have had when so many were struggling with not being able to help in town.”

While her home will be livable again soon, she noted the loss of the Creative Residence where she had hosted pop-up art shows and the loss of other beautiful Canadian art throughout the community.

She is also the assistant manager of the Jasper Farmers’ Market with the Jasper Local Food Society, but the society lost all its belongings with the destruction of the McCready Centre.

McLachlan has spent the past week crying over many things and brainstorming on her future and the future of Jasper.

“I’ve been trying to stay productive as well as giving myself grace to break down if and when I need to,” she said.

Routine continues to elude her. She figures it out one moment at a time and tries to find the opportunity in the day ahead of her.

“I wake up and I start to figure out the next moment from there,” she said. “Trauma healing doesn’t have a routine or a schedule.”

She doesn’t expect normalcy to return for a long time, noting how the disaster has changed each person in town in many ways.

“Everything has changed,” she said. “The needs of the community have drastically changed. There is going to be a huge shift in Jasper in businesses, ownership, residents, politics and the future generations of Jasperites are going to live in the decisions we make now.”

Like Robinson, McLachlan had concerns about Parks Canada’s rules and bureaucracy getting in the way of the rebuild, but she had faith overall that the community would recover.

“We, the residents, are what makes Jasper magical,” she said. “Beyond nature, our community is also beautiful. Have a conversation with a Jasperite and there’s no possible way you leave without a smile on your face.”

Peter Shokeir,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Jasper Fitzhugh