the town’s 5,000 full-time residents — along with 20,000 visitors -- fled on short notice late Monday and Tuesday when the fires flared up.
50% burned down buildings estimate in the article are given by the at fault politician, so it's likely higher.
Video
Driving through the streets, all houses burned to the foundation
https://xcancel.com/ryanjespersen/status/1816494189338566866
2023
The conservative Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith has cut 30 millions from wildfire spending compared to 2019.
https://pressprogress.ca/albertas-ucp-government-has-cut-tens-of-millions-of-dollars-from-wildfire-preparedness-programs/
We often don’t know how deeply conservatives have cut until we need the service in an emergency and find out it’s not there. Right now, we are finding that not only did the UCP cut funding for fire services but that they’re planning to cut it further.”
Last week
She was on Jordan Peterson's channel being pro oil and imaginary carbon capture tech. (EP465, not linking it).
Previously Smith put up a ban on all clean energy projects https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/01/10/opinion/danielle-smith-ramps-alberta-war-clean-energy
Union states her conservative policies burned down the town
https://www.aupe.org/news/news-and-updates/provincial-government-bears-responsibility-jasper-wildfire
Hexbear mega sub-thread
https://hexbear.net/comment/5173976
I was just planning a vacation to that area some day. I was literally looking at a leisure train tickets last week. I wanted to do something that didn't require flying so it might be more environmentally sustainable. The train starts in Vancouver and goes through the Canadian Rockies in a big loop with Jasper as it's halfway point. It was like a "let's save for a decade and do this thing'' kind of a dream trip, but now I guess I can't.
This isn't the first time I've seen wildfires wipe towns off the map, it's even happened much closer to where I live, but this one hurts in a different kind of way.