Parks Canada managers sounded the alarm on Jasper’s fire risk four years ago, calling it a “big concern.” The July 24 wildfire destroyed 358 buildings in the resort town.

The agency would not explain Tuesday why it failed to take all measures needed to save Jasper, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. 

“You could light a match and it’s going to practically explode,” said Peter Scholz, a former senior planner for Jasper National Park. He claimed overconfident staff members allowed dead pine to build up at the park. 

Parks Canada in a 2021 Briefing Book acknowledged from 2015 it reduced the number of controlled burns that would fuel any wildfire. No reason was given, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

Guilbeault says "years of forest management" paid off in Jasper.

30% of the town burned.

His own ministry's 2022 Jasper Park Mgmt Plan says not enough was done to clear pine beetle fuel load out of the park. Feds were warned in 2017 about potential for a catastrophe… pic.twitter.com/j7IrALmW5d

— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) July 29, 2024

“Obviously one of the big concerns is the dead trees and the fuel load,” Darlene Upton, vice-president of Parks Canada, testified at 2020 hearings of the Commons environment committee. “We are ramping up our efforts.”

However Parks Canada documents indicate the agency was slow to eliminate the risk with tree cutting or controlled burns.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault claimed the damage would have been much worse if not for “years of preparation.” Parks Canada would not detail precautions it took in Jasper.

The number of controlled fires in national parks was reduced from 28 annually to just 13 in the period from 2015 to 2019. That fell further during the pandemic. 

'It was a matter of time': Jasper-area locals react to federal mismanagement of wildfire

One woman expressed her frustration, saying, 'They should have had all that pine beetle and that forest fire deadwood gone a long time ago. It's BS.'https://t.co/3q2AbL55i8

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) July 31, 2024

Richard Ireland, Jasper’s mayor, rejected claims that Parks Canada failed to manage the fire risk properly. “For anyone who might see this as a failure, I reject that premise,” he told reporters. “This is a success.”

The agency failed to perform enough prescribed burns despite warning Environment and Climate Change Canada of the obvious fire risk two years ago. It warned that 44% of Jasper’s Whitebark Pine forest was killed by pine beetles. 

Ireland claimed it was not possible to clear the valley full of dead pine trees. “There is no conceivable way to remove all of them, so we had to prepare for the eventuality of fire,” he said.

Ron Hallman, CEO of Parks Canada, clarified Tuesday that Jasper had 15 prescribed burns since 2015. “We have burned thousands, thousands of hectares in the park,” he told reporters, but did not elaborate.

Evidence suggests bureaucratic negligence behind Jasper fire

We're here in Hinton, a town west of Jasper, Alberta, at a command centre coordinating the emergency response to the wildfires burning out of control in Jasper National Park, which resulted in a fire sweeping into the… pic.twitter.com/9e0JYvGdUm

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) July 31, 2024

Vice-President Upton testified that Parks Canada “developed a specific management plan in that particular area [Jasper National Park],” but did not elaborate.

“We started last year [2019] with a number of new projects,” Upton said. “There will be a number of new actions this season as well in terms of load reduction and prescribed burns.” She did not elaborate on the timeline.

Parks Canada boasted at 2020 environment committee hearings that Jasper National Park was “one of the very few places” where the agency cut trees to reduce fire risk.

Very few seedlings were planted, and Parks Canada could not explain the inaction.

Scholz previously accused agency staff of caving to ecoactivists who opposed cutting down dead trees. “The level of ignorance in that community about proper forest management is rather extraordinary,” he said.

He left in 2008 after five months' employment, claiming his “time would be wasted.”

WATCH: Wildfire destroys Alberta town of Jasper, fuels political division nationally

Shocking destruction of Canadian town sees thousands of Albertans in need of support while raising questions of accountability

MORE by @SydFizzard: https://t.co/TDDddNtMwY

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) July 26, 2024

Parliament in 2021 budgeted $100.6 million fire preparedness in national parks over five years, including $2.2 million a year to combat beetle infestations blamed for killing pine trees. 

“There is still much work to do to mitigate Mountain Pine Beetle related impacts particularly in the forests surrounding communities within the Rocky Mountain National Parks, e.g. Jasper,” said the Briefing Book.

“The fact is Parks Canada and our partners have done everything we reasonably could have done to reduce fire risk over many years and to be prepared for what may come,” Hallman told reporters. “Obviously we are all devastated that the fire breached the town,” he added.

“The simple fact is sometimes there are no tools or resources capable of overcoming a wildfire of the magnitude that we faced this week.”