Will Baart, store manager of local grocery store TGP Jasper, had spent less than 12 hours away from his home when he received a call to return. The wildfire that would go on to impact Jasper hadn’t yet reached town, and while people were evacuating, first responders were heading in.
“Five-thirty in the morning, my phone starts going off,” says Baart, who had evacuated with his family and arrived at a hotel in McBride, B.C., just after 3.a.m. on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
It was Parks Canada “asking if I would return to Jasper as soon as possible so that I could reopen the store — not to the public — but to help provide food for the relief efforts for the first responders, Parks Canada, basically everyone that was still left in town.”
Originally from Ontario, Baart came to Alberta in 2001. Staying in Lake Louise for a couple months, he found it too isolated. He then tried Banff, which he felt was too much like a bustling city. But Jasper? Just right.
“I did the 'Goldilocks' thing,” he explains. “When I'm surrounded by Pyramid, Whistlers, Old Man, Signal, when I can look out my backyard and see Edith Cavel, when I've got the mountains surrounding me, it just feels like home.”
Alongside assistant store manager Michael Galope, Baart returned to town before the fire arrived and ran truckloads of food for first responders all day. The pair continued working through Wednesday, when the fire reached town.
Finally, they were forced to evacuate once again — but Baart didn’t stay gone for long. He returned early and commuted daily from Hinton to make sure the store was ready when his neighbours returned.
“My employees and my community — that's what kept me going,” says Baart, who was one of the first people back in Jasper, receiving civilian placard number two for re-entry.
For many returning Jasperites, Baart and his staff were some of the first friendly faces they saw, ready with a smile and a hug for patrons of TGP Jasper.
“You feel close to your community on a day-to-day basis, but you don't really know until you run into a situation like this,” Baart says. “Just giving that first embrace after the fact was a very emotional experience.”
Jasperites are ready to welcome visitors back to the mountains. Learn more about Tourism Jasper’s tips for travelling responsibly.
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