Highway 16 partially opened via Jasper

Highway 16, the main east-west route in northern Alberta and British Columbia through Jasper National Park, partially reopened Thursday morning despite expectations for increased wildfire activity.

On Thursdays, only commercial vehicles are allowed to drive through Jasper during three time windows: 5am-7am, 10am-5pm, and 8pm-9pm.

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis warned on Wednesday that access times could be changed or restricted without notice as the risk of wildfires increases.

According to a Update from Jasper National Park at 9pm: High winds on Wednesday spread flames to the southern edge of the fire area, but ground crews limited the spread to other areas.

“Conditions are becoming warmer and drier, so increased fire risk is expected in the coming days, which will test firefighting efforts,” the park said.

The emergency command centre warned: “The risk to Jasper National Park and the Jasper community remains very real. We have used this period of lower fire activity to prepare and significant progress has been made in protecting the community and the park from the risk of bushfires.”

These preparations included redeploying sprinklers to protect the structure and a volume sprinkler, creating fire breaks with heavy equipment, and burning forest fuels.

Leaders from all three levels of government are expected to provide an update Thursday at 2:15 p.m. MT. Watch it live at CTVNewsEdmonton.ca.

On Thursday, mounted police officers will control access to Highway 16 with checkpoints in both directions.

The highway was closed before the city was evacuated, forcing evacuees to travel to British Columbia before returning to Alberta.

Despite the reopening of the highway, Jasper residents still don’t know when they can return home.

Ellis said a re-entry plan is in the works and the province is still planning bus tours of the city for Jasper residents, but more cleanup needs to be done first.

Ellis added that a more concrete plan for retrieving items such as caravans from the national park will be forthcoming in a day or two.

More to come…