The fire in Jasper

… this is my hometown. It has been awful. Words are few, the grief deep. 

Although I don’t live there now, we mtn bike there frequently. 

I have strong emotional ties, my family home may still be standing but the apartment building my husband family lived in is gone, the apartment building my friends grew up in is gone, the church I was married in is gone, the same church my husband’s family faithfully went to, the same church my childhood friend’s parents were active goers (his dad was the mc at our wedding), the same church one of my highschool besties’ family frequented.

I can rattle off family names of many houses that are gone. 

My second mom ( the family I grew up beside) her house is gone. Our local favorite trail guru - her home is gone. A woman I graduated with her home is gone. A significant chunk of the area locals affectionately called the fish bowl, where my husband and I had our first child is gone. 

The veterinarian’s facility is gone. The hotel I grew up walking to buy my dad smokes (yeah wild eh) its gone. 

Yet the house where my husband and I rented a basement suite in before we were married and couldn’t go in to one night because of the massive elk on the front lawn, I believe it still stands. 

The apartment building my dad lived in after his divorce still stands yet the ones on either side are gone. 

The wall of flames moved 5 kms/3mikes in less than 30 minutes with 75km/hr or 75 mph winds was 100 m / 330 feet tall. A beast!!!

My husband and I rode our bikes there on Saturday July 20. I had to drop back a massive distance because the dust on the trails was three inches thick and powder.

The weekend before we also rode in Jasper. After our ride, my husband said something really out of character… “let’s go for a drive around town and see your house.” We sure didn’t realize that would be the last time we would see the west end of Jasper pre-fire.

I am numb, just numb.

As someone who has strong ties to Jasper, I am not alone in my feelings and emotions.

My sister and I were in constant contact. My cousin reached out to me. My stepdad reached out to me. Members of my personal community reached out to me. And fellow friends who no longer lived in Jasper reeled in the continuing drama unfolding.

Six of us got together in a different city on Friday. The fire still alive in Jasper. Those hugs we shared grounded us after the past two days of pure hell we have been experiencing. The sense of loss, of being disconnected began its slow healing with those hugs. The first one for me was the one from my husband. We are in this together.

Written July 26, 2024