Up to 25,000 people were forced to flee one of Canada’s largest national parks as wildfires approached.
Swedish Julia Lyngfelt was one of them.
– I saw in front of me that the fire would get there before we could leave, she says to TV4 Nyheterna.
Hundreds of wildfires are spreading across western Canada after high temperatures and on Tuesday thousands had to evacuate the small town of Jasper in the province of Alberta, which is located next to one of the country’s largest national parks.
Julia Lyngfelt from Gothenburg is vacationing in Canada with her boyfriend, and was there in Jasper when the flames approached.
– We only managed to be there for an hour before we saw a cloud of smoke far away and within an hour the sky was no longer blue but orange-brown due to all the fire smoke, she says.
Started howling from the phones
Julia tells us that forest fires are quite common in the area, and that most people around were quite calm anyway.
But after a few more hours, everyone’s phones started buzzing.
– Then it said that evacuation had to take place now, so we immediately took it seriously.
– We jumped into the car and in the meantime the street was filled with cars with people who wanted to leave, but it was still and nobody got anywhere.
She says that then another message came on the phone with a warning that the fires were only five hours away.
– I got really nervous and really scared. I saw before me that the fire would come to the city before we could get away.
“Society has collapsed”
The pair were finally able to leave Jasper and are now safely several hours from the city.
– The fires have not reached Jasper from what we have heard. We saw the extinguishing work when we left and it looked incredibly professional, says Julia.
She says that the city will probably be evacuated for a while longer, and that the residents of the nearby towns have welcomed everyone with open arms.
– The whole society has really come together. We were offered breakfast and those who needed could pick up clothes. It’s an incredible community feeling.