As massive plumes of smoke filled Highway 16, Parks Canada fire crews raced to combat a forest fire at Disaster point, 35 kilometres Northeast of Jasper Tuesday night.

At 8 p.m., crews tackled the blaze, which quickly consumed three hectares of brush beside the highway, across from Rocky River. Working into the night, firefighters, with the assistance of a helicopter, were able to stop the wind-driven blaze from spreading, with hopes of renewing the battle on Wednesday.

The smoke could be seen 15 kilometres away from the blaze by the time Parks fire crews arrived on scene. Flames could be seen 30 metres from the highway.

Fire crews had just finished extinguishing the prescribed burn on the Pyramid bench when the report of the fire came in.

At press time, Parks Canada fire specialist Dave Smith said there were no known casualties and that the cause of the fire was unknown. Parks Canada officials planned to investigate the fire early Wednesday morning.

“The goal is to have containment today (Tuesday) and we won’t think about investigating it until Wednesday,” Smith said.

Despite the smoke, Highway 16 remained open, with RCMP officers from Hinton responding to direct traffic.

As of May 5, 31 wildfires were reported across Alberta by sustainable resource development, 15 of those were reported to be under control. Half of the fires reported were in the Lac La Biche area.