Jasper wildfires: Industry braces for huge losses

The industry can expect “significant losses” after out-of-control wildfires reached the town of Jasper, Alberta last night. 

Stoked by extreme heat and strong winds, the blazes encroached on the Alpine tourist town Wednesday night, after multiple fires started earlier in the week.

In a media update late Thursday afternoon, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said between 30% and 50% of the town’s structures may have been destroyed. A more precise number won’t be known until the fires are out.

About 25,000 people were evacuated from Jasper National Park in western Alberta, Canadian Press reports. Many had to take long-winding routes to reach reception centres established in Calgary, Edmonton, and Grande Prairie.

“For Jasper, specifically, we’re in peak [travel] season,” says Kyler Hart-Moore, president and executive general adjuster at Laurin Adjusters Ltd. “I think the business interruption factor outside of actual physical fire impact is going to be a very large consideration for any carriers that have commercial risk in the area.” 

The blazes caused highway closures and several campgrounds and resorts to begin evacuating early on. The town and its national park were subsequently evacuated as the blaze grew to an estimated 10,800 hectares. 

Jasper tallies almost 5,000 full-time residents, and Parks Canada says its national park gets more than a million visitors across the entire summer months.  

Photos on social media show lodges and other buildings wiped out from the flames.  

Brutal, heart-breaking images coming out from Jasper.

Here’s a post with more visuals on what’s been lost so far. #yeg #yyc #ableg #cdnpoli https://t.co/JumttgxUjt pic.twitter.com/ExGNKBi8pn

— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) July 25, 2024

“As the pictures and videos circulating online show, significant loss has occurred within the townsite,” Parks Canada reports. “Our focus continues to be on saving as many structures as possible.” 

Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge says the fire reached its grounds, however, the extent of the damage remains unclear. 

The Trans Mountain Pipeline, a Canadian government-owned pipeline that runs through the national park, was reportedly still operating as of Wednesday. Sprinklers are being used to protect it, along with other critical infrastructure in the town.  

Multiple lodges and campsites have taken to social media to indicate they’ll be refunding current and upcoming guests for their reservations. 

First responders were pulled back from wildland fires but remain on scene for structural fires. 

In the meantime, adjusters are awaiting word from Jasper officials about when they can begin assessing losses.  

“Some clients [insurance companies] have asked for [adjuster] resources to be placed on standby to go in as soon as it’s safe to do so in anticipation of claims,” says David Repinski, CEO of CRU Group.  

Potential challenges may arise from the town’s remote location, says Anita Paulic, ClaimsPro’s director of operations and catastrophe response.  

“It will cause challenges to access the sites to assess damage, as it is at least 400 km away from any major city centre,” she says. “While we have not received claims directly related to the Jasper wildfires, we have had several conversations with clients to prepare and assess potential damage with a response plan.” 

While they wait for the go-ahead, Hart-Moore says his firm has begun collecting data on the real estate market in the area to prepare for settling total losses to structures.  

Adjusters can expect to respond to myriad wildfire-related damages, adds Hart-Moore, who’s also a vice president and director for the Canadian Independent Adjusters Association. 

“Outside of the [fires] that actually are believed to be on the ground, considerations have to be made for smoke damage, partial damage, heat damage to sidings and roofs,” he says. “There are pretty clear indications that a large number of structures have been affected.” 

 

Unsuppressable

IBC notes 200 wildfires are burning in the northern Alberta region. Of the two fires entering Jasper, the largest one is more than 10,800 hectares.

For a blaze of this magnitude, there’s not much that can be done for suppression efforts, says Glenn McGillivray, managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction. 

“This particular fire is exhibiting extreme fire behaviour over the last 24 hours,” he says. “When that happens, you just can’t get on top of this fire.”

The fire behaviour is comparable to that of Lahaina, Hawaii, says McGillivray. Last August, wind-driven fires and dry, gusty conditions prompted evacuations and caused widespread damage to the Maui town. 

Though there’s no indication that the losses in Jasper will be directly comparable in terms of insured damage estimates, the Lahaina fires saw insurers face up to $3 billion in claims.

The 2016 fire that razed Fort McMurray, Alta., is the largest natural catastrophe in Canadian history, causing almost $4 billion in insured damage to the community, home to just over 75,000 at the time.

Air quality had deteriorated drastically Wednesday night, to the point that wildland firefighters and others without self-contained breathing apparatuses were required to evacuate.  

Jasper National Park received a small amount of rain overnight. But “while the rain helped reduce fire activity slightly, it is not enough to have made a meaningful impact to the overall wildfire situation, which remains out of control,” Parks Canada reports.  

What’s more, many houses in Jasper have untreated wood shakes and shingles atop their roofs, says McGillivray, which tend to be less resistant to fire than asphalt shingles.  

 

The Waiting Game

Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has deployed its Virtual Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion (V-CAMP) to provide general insurance information to affected residents in Jasper, and said it is “in close contact with the provincial and federal governments and emergency management officials, as well as with municipal officials in the affected communities. This situation is changing extremely rapidly.”

IBC’s V-CAMP is staffed with trained insurance industry personnel who are on hand at IBC’s Consumer Information Centre at 1-844-2ask-IBC (1-844-227-5422) to help address consumers’ general questions about their home, business or vehicle insurance policies.

“Unfortunately, the wildfire that has impacted the Municipality of Jasper was confirmed by Parks Canada to have caused structure loss,” said Rob de Pruis, IBC’s national director of consumer and industry relations. “As the extent of the damage is being assessed, our thoughts continue to be with the impacted residents whose lives have been disrupted and whose property has been damaged.

“We applaud all the first responders who have been working tirelessly to protect lives and property. While recovery efforts continue, rest assured that anyone whose property or vehicle was damaged can contact their insurance representative when they are ready to start the claims process.”

 

Photo Credit: A wildfire burns as an empty street in Jasper, Alta. is shown in this Wednesday, July 24, 2024 handout photo from the Jasper National Park Facebook page. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Facebook, Jasper National Park