Jasper officials release map, list of all structures destroyed by wildfire

Karen Dyck and her husband have spent the past several days holding on to hope that their home, in the west end of Jasper, Alta., still stands.

Parts of the historic townsite, about 365 kilometres west of Edmonton, were decimated by a massive wildfire earlier this week. Officials have stated, based on preliminary intelligence, that west Jasper was hit hard.

The couple has watched videos and looked at photos coming in from neighbours and other residents, cautious to assume one way or the other. Some of the images, Dyck said, showed a neighbour’s house standing, with their roof or the side of their house in the background.

“We want to make that assumption that it’s still standing,” she told CBC News.

On Saturday afternoon, she learned that it is.

Dyck and other Jasper residents received more details about the damage a wildfire — the largest the national park has seen in more than a century — wrought since it reached the town Wednesday evening.

The Municipality of Jasper released a map and list of addresses showing where buildings were damaged in the community. The information is based on damage visible from the street, said Christine Nadon, the town’s incident commander.

“We have not been inside buildings or seen the back side of properties,” Nadon said during a news conference Saturday afternoon.

“Buildings marked as ‘not damaged’ on the map could have internal damage from smoke and water.”

The information is preliminary and subject to change, she said. Nadon acknowledged that some residents likely would have preferred to receive the information privately, but it was made public so people could access it more quickly.

Parks Canada — the lead agency on the firefighting effort — estimated Friday that 358 of the town’s 1,113 structures — about one third of all buildings — were destroyed.

The map released Saturday supports what officials have previously said: west Jasper and southwest of Miette Avenue sustained the brunt of the damage.

Entire blocks and rows of buildings and homes were destroyed. One west end neighbourhood was almost incinerated, the map shows.

CBC News analyzed the list of addresses, which showed Patricia and Geikie streets, and Cabin Creek Drive, lost the most structures in town.

“Most of them are destroyed, not damaged, from our initial assessments. We’re looking at foundations,” Nadon said.

“Very few fall under the…