A wildfire reached the town of Jasper in the Canadian province of Alberta on Wednesday, authorities said, one of hundreds of blazes sweeping across the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, as firefighters struggle to save key facilities such as the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Wildfires burning out of control across the region include 433 in British Columbia and 176 in Alberta, more than a dozen of them in the Fort McMurray area, the epicentre of the oil sands.
The pipeline, which can carry 890,000 barrels of oil per day from Edmonton to Vancouver, passes through a national park in the Canadian Rockies near the picturesque tourist city, which forced about 25,000 people to evacuate on Tuesday.
“Firefighters are working to save as many structures as possible and protect critical infrastructure, including the wastewater treatment plant, communications facilities and the Trans Mountain pipeline,” Parks Canada said in a Facebook post.
The pipeline operator did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, but has previously said it is operating the pipeline safely and has deployed sprinkler systems as a precaution.
In its latest update for the day, Jasper National Park said it could not report the extent of damage to specific locations or neighborhoods, and that it would provide further updates on Thursday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government has approved Alberta’s request for federal aid.
“We are deploying Canadian Armed Forces resources, evacuations support, and more emergency resources to fight the province’s wildfires immediately – and coordinating firefighting operations and airlift assistance. Alberta, we are with you.”
The city and the park, which attracts more than two million tourists annually, were evacuated on Monday evening, while officials estimated that there were 15,000 visitors in the park.
Poor air quality forced firefighters and others lacking breathing equipment to evacuate to the town of Hinton, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) away, park authorities said on Facebook late Wednesday.
Parks Canada officials said earlier they expected rain overnight.