Canada Evacuates Jasper National Park as Wildfires Burn in Alberta

A raging wildfire forced the evacuation late Monday of Jasper National Park in Western Canada, where thousands of people have fled their homes in the past four days because of large blazes.

The authorities in the province of Alberta issued an emergency alert on Monday for the park as well as the municipality of Jasper, warning of the threat from a wildfire south of the town. There were more than 160 active wildfires in Alberta on Monday, with around 7,500 people under evacuation orders in the province.

The Semo Complex fire, which has burned 96,000 acres, is one of the largest in Alberta and is one of dozens that have been classified as “out of control.”

Canada is anticipating a wildfire season that one government forecast suggested could be worse than last year’s, when record-breaking blazes burned millions of acres and blanketed U.S. cities with smoke as far south as Florida.

A team of researchers said last year that climate change has increased the risk of large wildfires in Canada, where the season usually runs from March to October. This year, Canadian wildfires have prompted air quality warnings in places including Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Jasper has a population of around 5,000, but there can be as many as 12,000 seasonal workers there every year. Jasper National Park is one of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.