Lytton, B.C., still under evacuation order one year after fire
What was once the B.C. Village of Lytton is now a fire-scarred wasteland that is uninhabitable.
June 30 marks a year since a devastating fire burned about 90 per cent of the community. Even now, most of Lytton remains under an evacuation order.
“This is a state of local emergency and so nobody can come back until it’s all completely cleaned up,’ explained Owen Collings, who lost his home in the fire and remembers the day in vivid detail.
He says the fire was “absolutely a firestorm, unstoppable.”
A couple months after the blaze, he began working for the village, providing site support. That means he sees the devastation first hand, day in and day out.
“The emotions come and go,” he explained.
“Sometimes I just get a trigger.”
Collings is also the person who guides Lytton residents as they need to return to their former homes.
But some evacuees say it’s far too difficult to return to the rubble-filled village.
It’s just too painful. and I don’t think I’m unique,” said an emotional Edith Loring-Kuhanga, the administrator at Stein Valley Nlakapamux School and also a Lytton resident.
She lost all her belongings in the fire. The place where she lived also was destroyed.
She said she is frustrated at the pace of clean-up.
“Ten, 11 months later to finally start to see progress on the ground, that has been really difficult,” she said.
She compares the village to nearby Lytton First Nation where temporary housing is being set up.
“We started ordering housing back in August I believe so we have two, three subdivisions started (with) 39 temporary units,” explained Niakia Hanna, a councillor with Lytton First Nation.
LFN had expected to open the federally-funded homes this week but ran into delays.
In the Village of Lytton, close to 70 per cent of the properties had no insurance or were underinsured. It wasn’t until provincial funding was announced that remediation work to remove soil contaminants began in March. The area also has significant cultural importance and archeological assessments are required.
The clean-up is happening in stages, beginning with metal items being removed, then ash and then foundations.
“Some only have the surface debris, but down in my place, they’re already starting to take the earth,” explained Collings.
Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman told CTV News the clean-up is costing an average of $60,000 for each property.
So far, work is complete on only about 10 of the 150 properties, meaning there’s much to be done before evacuees can come home.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.