Jasper mayor: Interim housing is Alberta town's biggest challenge for 2025

Jasper is rebuilding after a massive summer wildfire destroyed about one-third of buildings in the Alberta mountain town.

Thousands of locals and tourists were forced to evacuate on July 22. Two days later the fire swept into town, destroying 358 buildings, equalling over 800 homes including apartment and condo units.

Residents weren't allowed to return for more than three weeks. Morgan Kitchen, a 24-year-old firefighter, died when he was hit by a falling tree near Jasper on Aug. 3.

In a year-end interview, Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland tackles questions about his community's wildfire response, coming to terms with personal loss, and rebuilding Jasper so that it is more resistant to future fires.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It has been a difficult year for Jasper. People are dealing with loss. Some are still trying to come to terms with what happened. What sense are you getting now of people's attitudes toward rebuilding?

I think that it has been the focal point for just about everybody to get on with the rebuild. We saw that in the initial days and weeks after the fire. People already started to talk really enthusiastically about the opportunity to rebuild and build back better, and that continues. One of the real driving forces for community resilience and unity is to look forward to that rebuild.

You're rebuilding, too. You lost your home in the fire. How are you doing?

I'm doing well enough. I am still enthused to get up every morning and face the challenges. And there are many, but they are widespread throughout the community. Everybody's facing really serious challenges.

Not everybody has exactly the same lens through which they view the community and their own circumstances. But we are joined in the fact that we are all facing similar issues and we're getting on with it individually and as a community.

Let's talk about tourism. It's a huge driver of your local economy. How do you balance the need for filling hotels and restaurants and getting people into town with the need for residents to have space and privacy to rebuild?

We recognized early on in mid-August, when we permitted re-entry to the community, that we had the essential services in place to be able to allow residents to re-enter. But we recognized that as they re-entered, residents would need some time and space just to come to grips with their own loss. It was a shocking view for every resident.

And despite what they had seen on television or on social media, the reality of being on the ground in front of what may have been your home in the past was shocking. And people needed time and space and we gave them that.

WATCH | Jasper mayor reflects on 2024, looks forward to 2025:

Year-end interview with Jasper mayor

4 days ago

Duration 8:30

Richard Ireland, mayor of Jasper, Alta., reflects on last summer's devastating wildfire and the ongoing efforts to rebuild the Alberta mountain town.

Recognizing that, to restart the economy we also had to at some point welcome visitors. By early September we were doing that. And in about mid-September we were ... getting the message out in combination with marketing agencies in the town — Tourism Jasper and the chamber of commerce — to let people know we were open. We welcome visitors. We needed them.

How worried are you that this fire has scared some residents away from wanting to continue living in Jasper because of the risk that comes along with living in a town where fires are a reality, a possibility?

I think more about all those people who want to get back and rebuild and simply can't. There may be some people who choose to leave the community because of the fire, and that is a choice that is theirs to make. But I focus my efforts and my attention on getting all those people who want to be back in the community back. And that is the significant challenge that we face.

There simply is not the housing available to bring those people back, to restart the economy, to start rebuilding their lives. And so the focus is more on getting those people back.

This holiday season, what do you think is on the minds of members of your community?

I think through the holiday season and as we approach New Year's, there will be an attitude of reflection throughout the community — an attitude not so much of celebration, but of gratitude. And I think people will reflect back on what is really important in their lives. We have lost so much, but all of our community was saved.

I think there will be a great deal of reflection and gratitude with respect to the Kitchen family in Calgary in particular, who lost a son, a brother, a nephew. That is the real tragedy of this. It is not lost on our community and I think it will temper the celebratory nature that usually associates with New Year's, and so it will be more reflective.

What will be Jasper's biggest challenge in 2025?

I think it will continue to be what it is today, which is housing — interim housing — to get back people who want to be back in the community and don't have that opportunity yet because of lack of housing. And we're anticipating early in January to have maybe 80 to 100 units of interim housing available. That will be such a welcome relief for so many people. It will spur optimism for more [legislation] to come later in the spring. But that will continue to be, I think, the primary focus into 2025. 

And then that will shift to the actual rebuild effort of the permanent homes. By springtime, when the frost is out of the ground, hopefully we'll start to see some foundations being poured and people starting to get fully engaged in the rebuild of their own properties.