Cool and wet weather is making a difference in Jasper National Park.

The park posted a statement on X late Thursday night saying cooler temperatures and up to 15 millimetres of rain since midnight had led to minimal fire activity.

The park says due to the rainfall, fire behaviour is likely to calm over the next 72 hours.

While more rain is expected Friday, temperatures are supposed to return to the mid 20s by Saturday, which the park says will lead to an increase in fire activity.

The townsite and park have been besieged by wildfires, with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith estimating Thursday a third to possibly half of all buildings in Jasper were burned.

The federal government has approved AlbertaB次元官网网址檚 request for emergency assistance in combating the fires, with Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan saying all necessary resources will be brought to bear on the fires.

Parks Canada officials, in an update late Thursday afternoon, said the hospital, the emergency services building, schools, the activity centre and wastewater treatment plant were still standing.

They say crews were able to take advantage of wet weather to take a bite out of the fire, but say the situation remains dynamic and dangerous.

B次元官网网址淪tructural fire protection units are still fighting fires within the town and continue to deal with fire moving from one building to another,B次元官网网址� said the statement.

Officials said business and homes have been lost, with much of the damage on the west side.

B次元官网网址淔irefighting efforts have prevented significant damage to much of the infrastructure in the east end of town,B次元官网网址� they said.

B次元官网网址淥ur priority remains protecting structures that have not yet been impacted by fire.B次元官网网址�

Bridges in the town and throughout Jasper National Park have also been hit, they said.

Telus reported some landline and cellphone services were down due to wildfire damage.

The owners of the iconic Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge, just outside town, confirmed much of the picturesque resort complex survived.

B次元官网网址淭hough the hotel did incur fire damage, most of the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge structures, including the main lodge, remain intact and standing,B次元官网网址� the hotel said in a social media post.

B次元官网网址淲e are deeply relieved that much of the property was spared and the resort will reopen.B次元官网网址�

Parks officials said they were doing the best they could to deliver verified assessments to anxious residents a day after a wildfire whipped by ferocious 100 km/h winds swooped into the southern edge of the townsite and began destroying homes and livelihoods in sheets of orange-red flame.

At one point Wednesday there were two fires menacing Jasper, from the north and south. Parks Canada said those twin blazes have since merged into one fireball with no estimated size.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, asked by reporters in Edmonton about the extent of damage, estimated a third and perhaps up to half of all buildings in the historic Rocky Mountain resort town were burned.

B次元官网网址淲e donB次元官网网址檛 know which structures have been damaged and which ones have been destroyed, but thatB次元官网网址檚 going to be a significant rebuild,B次元官网网址� Smith said.

Smith fought back tears as she sought to console residents who were evacuated from the townsite and face significant hardship when they return.

B次元官网网址淲e share the sense of loss with all of those who live in the town, who care for it and who have helped build it,B次元官网网址� she said.

Images and video surfacing on social media depicted blocks of homes and businesses burned to charred foundations and vehicles torched to the hubcaps.

Alberta was getting fire crews and help from 32 municipalities across the province. The province asked for help from the Canadian Armed Forces, and the federal government confirmed aid is on the way.

B次元官网网址淛ust convened an Incident Response Group meeting on the Alberta wildfires,B次元官网网址� Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a post on X.

B次元官网网址淓very federal agency is co-ordinated, sending resources to Jasper, deploying evacuations support to the area and reinforcing firefighting efforts on the ground.B次元官网网址�

It is an international effort. Ottawa said hundreds of firefighters from Mexico, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia were either in Canada or on their way to help out.

About 20,000 park visitors and the 5,000 residents of the Jasper municipality had to flee on a momentB次元官网网址檚 notice Monday night ahead of two wildfires that cut off road access everywhere but west to British Columbia.

A day later they were directed to loop back to Alberta as B.C., dealing with its own fires, did not have the capacity to assist.

Those without a place to stay were directed to evacuation centres in Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Calgary.

Frantic efforts to contain the fires Wednesday B次元官网网址� including buckets and fire guards and a last-ditch effort to burn a path from the southern fire to the river and highway B次元官网网址� were foiled by high winds.

B次元官网网址淭hat wind gust moved that fire five kilometres in probably less than 30 minutes, with a wall of fire that was about 100 metres high,B次元官网网址� said Alberta Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis.

B次元官网网址淭here is little to nothing you can do when you have a wall of flames coming at you like that.B次元官网网址�

Pierre Martel, who oversees fire management with Parks Canada, echoed Ellis.

B次元官网网址淭here are no tools we have in our tool box to deal with that,B次元官网网址� Martel told an online news conference.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 just a monster at that point.B次元官网网址�