Jasper wildfire became uncontainable minutes after it started, federal report says

The fire that ravaged roughly a third of the buildings in the Alberta town of Jasper last year exploded so quickly that crews had no chance to contain the initial blaze, according to a federal government report.

Three lightning strikes within three minutes ignited fires that quickly merged about 23 kilometres south of Jasper on the evening of July 22, 2024, the report from Natural Resources Canada said. Within 10 minutes of ignition, flames were licking treetops, closing the window for crews to suppress the fire that eventually flattened swaths of one of Canada’s most picturesque towns.