TORONTO: A 24-year-old firefighter was killed by a falling tree while battling a forest blaze in northeast Jasper in the western Canadian province of Alberta today, the police said in a statement.
The deceased was a resident of Calgary and based out of the Rocky Mountain House fire base, the police said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it was notified of a serious injury sustained to an Alberta Wildland Fire employee this afternoon who was extracted from the scene.
Nearly a third of Jasper’s structures were destroyed when a massive wildfire, with flames burning 100m high, hit the popular Alberta tourist town in late July.
“Our deepest condolences also go to his fire-line crew, the 700-person strong team working in Jasper, and the larger Alberta Wildfire community,” Alberta’s minister of forestry and parks Todd Loewen said in a social media post on X.