Oh shit. Half of Jasper has burned up.

I haven’t been there but I know people who have, and loved it.

Huge, fast-moving wildfires have destroyed up to half of the historic Canadian town of Jasper, officials say, as firefighters try to save as many buildings as possible. Entire streets have been levelled by the blazes in Alberta province, with video showing smouldering rubble where homes once stood.

…

During a news conference on Thursday, a tearful Alberta Premier Danielle Smith struggled at times to recount the scale of the damage, but said “potentially 30 to 50%” of buildings had been destroyed.

“There is no denying that this is the worst nightmare for any community,” she said, adding that Jasper National Park had been “a source of pride” for many generations. Ms Smith became visibly emotional as she described the beauty of the park and its significance to the community, which relies largely on tourism. Some 2.5 million people visit the park, and nearby Banff National Park, each year.

Beautiful places are beautiful, and we’re allowed to love them and mourn them.

Hundreds of firefighters from around the world have been deployed to help with the response, but officials warn the extent of the damage is still emerging. The focus on Thursday, they said, was on containing the towering flames which engulfed the town from two sides.

Pierre Martel, director for the national fire management programme at Parks Canada, said the fire was started by a lightning storm and escalated late on Wednesday as it was fanned by powerful winds. “It [was] just a monster at that point,” Mr Martel said. “There are no tools we have in our tool box to deal with it.”

Meanwhile there’s another one of those raging Northern California fires devouring all in its path.

A rare fire tornado has ripped through bushland in northern California, as the state’s largest wildfire this year doubled in size overnight and burned out of control.

The Park fire, which started on Wednesday, has already burned through more than 164,000 acres of land northeast of Chico, and was 3% contained on Friday, Cal Fire said.

It’s way too close to Chico now. I have an internet friend who lives in Chico – some of you probably know her too. She had a go-bag ready by the door but as of last night the fire was cutting off some escape routes. I hope she’s out.

The Park fire has grown exponentially since it sparked on Wednesday, growing from about 1,400 acres on Wednesday near Chico, California, spreading about 45,500 acres by Thursday into California’s Central Valley, before tripling in size by Friday.

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for northern Sacramento Valley, and warned high winds and low humidity on Friday could combine to “cause new fire starts and ongoing wildfires to … grow rapidly and dangerously in size and intensity”.

Not the future any more.