As the Jasper wildfire crisis continues, firefighters from across the province and even the world have joined forces to provide critical support.
Lt. Ethan Gardner is one of six Diamond Valley Fire Rescue crew members to answer the call for support.
"I think Jasper is going to be one of those pivotal moments in Alberta history," said the lieutenant, "and I think as this fire develops, we're learning new things every day."
He and his fellow first responders made their way to Jasper with two fire department vehicles on the night of July 24, which Gardner said was planned out among the six of them well before the official request for support came in.
"Every firefighter that's up here, we had a discussion about this possibility early on before the deployment notice," he said. "We had bags packed for the minute we got the notice call."
According to Gardner, the first 72 hours of the crew's work in Jasper was spent doing direct fire suppression.
"Diamond Valley has been privileged, in some of these tasks, that we've been more front lined," he said. "I believe there's up to 150 firefighters in the townsite doing active structure protection."
Throughout the battle against the largest wildfire in over 100 years in Jasper National Park, Gardner has been incredibly impressed by the efforts of his fellow firefighters.
"They're from all different corners of the province... from my experience of firefighting, it's some of the most effective firefighting I've witnessed," he said.
With the townsite's fires having been extinguished as of July 27, the crew's focus has been on securing the townsite and protecting critical infrastructure.
"Due to the amount of efficiency that everybody has put in, we controlled it very, very fast... it's been an intense couple days, but things aren't really slowing down necessarily. We're still very busy in a lot of aspects, working very closely with the community members."
The firefighters remain in good spirits, but are sympathetic to the community's plight.
"It's not easy to see at all," said Gardner. "I've only been in the fire service for five years, and coming up here, it feels quite unreal... it's great that we can come together in this place of devastation, but it's not something that's easy to witness."
Though much of the townsite was destroyed, and Jasper National Park's re-opening date remains uncertain, Gardner is optimistic about the future.
"This fire is going to be controlled and it's going to be something that obviously the province is is going to be dealing with for many years... the efforts we've seen firsthand to the degree of protection that they put throughout the town, it is quite immense and quite effective," he said.
"As it is right now, we're on a positive trend. We're hoping to keep it that way."
According to Gardner, Diamond Valley Fire Rescue's crew is on a "primary tasking," indicating that their return date is uncertain and unlikely to be anytime soon. Throughout the situation, he remains grateful to have the support of the Diamond Valley community.
"Everybody up here has been going through quite a bit, obviously with helping out Jasper, and just knowing that we have our people behind us, it's been quite nice," he said. "I can sit here comfortably and say I'm going home at the end of the day, I'm going back to my community, and it does feel hard knowing that there's so much wiped out in the town."
According to Parks Canada, 358 structures in Jasper out of a total of 1,113, or just over 30 per cent, have been destroyed.
"To the people of Jasper, even with everything that's been going on for them, they've been such a hospitable community and we cannot thank them enough for the feeling that we have and the pleasure that it's been to be able to help them," Gardner said.
