Nancy Addison was at a family cottage in Manitoba when she got the news that her church and home in Jasper, Alta., were gone, destroyed by the wildfire.
The news came via text from her son, a volunteer firefighter in the town of 5,000.
“He texted to say they couldn’t save the street the church was on,” said Addison, who is a people’s warden at St. Mary & St. George Anglican Church.
The next update she received was a photo of the church engulfed in flames. “I felt physical pain and tears,” she said about seeing that photo. “We loved our church,” she said of the heritage building that was constructed in 1928.
As a warden, Addison is responsible for attending to the needs of the 15 to 20 people who call the church home. It is a job made all the more important since the congregation has not had a priest since 2021.
But nothing could have prepared her for this. “I feel so out of my depth,” she said.
When residents were ordered to evacuate, church members scattered. They can now be found as far away as Halifax or the B.C. coast.
“It took time to track everyone down, but I’ve found them all,” Addison said. They stay in touch and support each other through email and social media, she says.
Adding to the grief and trauma is that only three of the church’s families still have homes to return to. “It’s a difficult thing to digest,” she said of the losses, including her own.
When they connect, there’s no discussion about what’s next, she said. “It’s just ‘how are you doing,’” Addison said, adding “we hope to see each other again.”
The loss of the church building is also a blow to the community, since it hosted meetings for people struggling with addictions and was used for concerts and theatre. It was also home to Jasper’s food bank, serving about 150 people — and a favourite destination for many couples for their weddings.
Church members had also been active in sponsoring refugees, including welcoming many Ukrainians to Jasper in 2022 after Russia invaded that country.
“We want to go back, we want to be part of rebuilding the church and serving the community,” said Addison, a retired teacher who has lived in Jasper for 35 years.
That might mean working more closely with the United Church in Jasper, which was located beside the St. Mary & St. George Anglican Church and which was also destroyed by the fire.
Prior to the fire, members of the two congregations — both of which are small and aging — had been in discussion about sharing programs and possibly worship services.
“The fire might speed those talks up,” Addison said. “Maybe we can build something together with the United Church, something smaller, a building with no cedar shakes on the roof. We want to be fire smart.”
Climate change could also be factored into plans for a new building. “Something that gives off fewer emissions,” she said.
As for how it is affecting her personally, the impact of natural disasters like wildfire did not really hit home until it happened to her.
“You see people on the news who have experienced a natural disaster, and you think ‘How tragic’, but you don’t understand the depth of the pain until it happens to you,” Addison said. “Now I understand what happened in places like Lytton and Fort McMurray.”
‘Wall of flames’
For United Church minister Rev. Linda McLaren, this was the third time she had been evacuated due to fire from a western Canadian community. But it is her first time experiencing such devastating losses.
In addition to losing her church, the manse where McLaren lived also burned down. She lost almost all her possessions.
“When I saw a photo of the Anglican church burning, I knew our church was gone, too,” she said. “It was a massive wall of flames.”
Now living in a hotel in Edmonton, McLaren is trying to stay in touch with her congregation of about 25 people through email and social media.
“They’re scattered now, a diaspora from Victoria to Edmonton,” she said, adding about half her congregation also lost their homes.
Like at the Anglican church, McLaren’s church was also a centre of community life due to its thrift store, which served many who lived in Jasper. It also hosted meetings by other organizations and was rented for family gatherings.
McLaren echoed Addison’s thoughts about future cooperation, including the possibility of building a new church together once their respective denominations — which own their buildings — sort out the insurance claims.
But it is too soon to be talking about that, she said. Right now, it is about helping others deal with their grief.
And yet, in that grief, she also sees grace and hope. “I lost everything, yet have an amazing awareness I am so rich with what I have in family and friends,” she said. “I have an abundance.”
That feeling of grief mixed with gratitude was emphasized when she went on a supervised bus tour of the devastated town.
“It was difficult, and I’m still processing it,” she said. “I saw the destruction with my eyes but my heart is still finding it hard to take it in. So many houses are gone, along with their owners’ hopes and dreams.”
At the same time, “I also saw grace in the many homes not destroyed — it gave me joy to see that,” she said. “It gave me a sense of hope that there’s still life here. Out of the ashes, new life can emerge. I want to be open to how God can be with us on this journey, open our eyes to new life and to see what tomorrow might bring.”
‘Sheer heartache’
Roy Nickel has been the pastor of the Jasper Park Baptist Church, which meets in a former Lutheran church, for 12 years. Unlike the other two churches, his church was not destroyed by the fire. But like those churches, his 15 to 20 active members are also scattered in different directions.
“It’s a challenge to stay connected,” he said, noting he is also using email and social media to keep in touch with members. “But it’s easier than 30 or 40 years ago.”
At least two church families lost their homes, he said, but his home was untouched. “The fire was capricious, it struck where it willed.”
“I feel sheer heartache for those who lost their homes,” he said.
Looking ahead, he is already thinking about how his church, which is part of the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada denomination, can be used to help the community get back on its feet. This includes using its former building, which it still owns, as a donation and distribution centre, and maybe offering their current sanctuary to the United and Anglican congregations for worship services.
“We look forward to ways we can serve and bless our community,” he said.
In addition to the Baptist, Anglican and United churches, there are two other churches in the town — Roman Catholic and Pentecostal — both of which were unscathed. There are no other places of worship in Jasper. A total of 358 structures in the town were destroyed by the fire.
Canadians who want to help can donate to groups like the Red Cross — where gifts are being matched by the governments of Canada and Alberta — and the Jasper Fire Caring Community Fund.
