Agencies
Ottawa
Buildings in the Canadian tourist town of Jasper have been burning after wildfires forced 25,000 people to evacuate the area, officials said.
The blaze has spread through Jasper National Park, causing "significant loss” within the town, according to park officials on X, formerly Twitter.
Hundreds of wildfires have sparked in the western provinces of Alberta and British Columbia (BC). The region has been hit by more than 58,000 lightning strikes within the last week, sparking new blazes after a three-week heat wave, according to BC Wildfire Service.
Around 1,900 Alberta firefighters have been deployed, assisted by personnel from Alaska and Australia, and are working to save local infrastructure.
That includes the Trans Mountain Pipeline, a Canadian government-owned pipeline that runs through Jasper National Park. As of Wednesday it was still operating, with sprinklers being used to protect it.
There have been more than 400 fires recorded in British Columbia and 176 in the neighbouring province of Alberta.