Cutline: The town of Jasper will proceed with a $175,000 project that will allow it to pump water from the Athabasca River in case of wildfire. | File photo
Craig Gilbert | [email protected]
Parks Canada and Jasper are planning another wildfire public information event.
A session held at the fire hall on May 7 attracted as many as 400 people. It was more than organizers expected; some complained it was difficult to hear and see the presentation from where they were sitting or standing.
Local resident Marie-France Miron, a teacher at Ecole Desrochers, started applying pressure on Parks to host another session shortly after that night. She put the wheels in motion to host a demonstration on the Visitor Information Centre lawn on the same Saturday the Gran Fondo was to take place, but cancelled when Jasper National Park superintendent Alan Fehr said he鈥檇 be willing to take part in another public session.
Confirmation that the second event is in the works came with notes from the latest meeting between officials from the municipality and JNP referred to as the intergovernmental forum. Also in the summary of the June 19 meeting, word that Parks is reviewing the area redevelopment plan for the mobile home park in order to update it so there is a provision for trailers lost to wildfire.
Flying colours
The test for an alternate water source from Old Fort Point was successful, according to the town鈥檚 operations director. Congratulations. Here鈥檚 your $175,000 invoice.
The line pushed water back to the town at 90 PSI for 36 hours without a problem, Bruce Thompson said July 3.
Thompson said having the Cabin Lake plan as a contingency would still be a good idea. That would be a major capital project that would see a new line built from the lake down to the town鈥檚 reservoir with a price tag in the millions.
Council approved the expenditure, which pays for a new manifold to accept water from pumps in the river and send it up the line to town to supplant the hydrant system in case of wildfire. But Mayor Richard Ireland was puzzled as to why the OFP idea wasn鈥檛 part of the discussion when Jasper fire chief Greg Van Tighem requested $150,000 for a new portable sprinkler system earlier this year.
鈥淚 find this distressing,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 rather see these come forward as options and maybe we choose both, but this leaves me uncomfortable.鈥�
Town CAO Mark Fercho said at the time, the Cabin Lake option was still considered viable. Van Tighem confirmed that with the 51暗网 via email.
Testing on that line in recent weeks proved it would produce too much pressure by the time it reached the reservoir to be safe.
