There was a small measure of happiness in Lytton on June 24, when news came down that visitors to the downtown core no longer need to wear N95 masks.
Lytton 乌鸦传媒� which bills itself as 乌鸦传媒淐anada乌鸦传媒檚 Hot Spot乌鸦传媒� 乌鸦传媒� made news around the world on June 30, 2021 as it registered the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada: 49.6 C. The next day, 90 per cent of it burned to the ground, destroyed in a fire, the cause of which is still undetermined.
Ever since then, anyone visiting the site on foot has to wear full protective gear: steel-toed boots, a helmet, a high-vis vest, and (until June 24) a N95 mask. The removal of the mask requirement 乌鸦传媒� especially with the hot weather kicking into full gear 乌鸦传媒� is a piece of good news in a place where good news is a rare commodity.
Denise O乌鸦传媒機onnor, a former school principal who has spent most of her life in Lytton, is happy.
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 unbelievable to hear that!乌鸦传媒�
She visited the site office, an Atco trailer just below Kumsheen ShchEma-Meet School, to meet with Black Press Media. She stood patiently as construction safety officer Marc Silverman sifted through the three pages of information and a waiver that all visitors must understand and sign.
She can count the number of times she has listened to the talk, mostly escorting journalists to the site. Sometimes they ask for a visit, and sometimes she offers to take them; with the passage of time since the fire she can乌鸦传媒檛 keep track.
乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檝e done it a lot,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檓 kind of numb to the current visuals in the village, and I forget about the impact on people who haven乌鸦传媒檛 seen it before.乌鸦传媒�
Before June 30, 2021, the village contained businesses, a health centre, an RCMP detachment, a post office, a bank, hotels, a library and municipal office, churches, two museums, a fire hall, a pool, dozens of houses and more 乌鸦传媒� all the things that make a town a community.
Today, from Highway 1 above town it remains difficult to see the destruction: black fencing along the west side of the highway prevents it. The access road at the north end of town is blocked off, but people travelling through Lytton to Highway 12 and points beyond can turn off by Kumsheen School and travel down Main Street, through the heart of the village, where bright blue fencing 乌鸦传媒� a splash of colour against the brown and black and grey of most of the town 乌鸦传媒� lines the street.
Two security guards in white pick-up trucks are at either end of Main Street, 24/7. They have a clear view of the entire route, so if anyone travelling through stops their vehicle, gets out, or even slows down, security is there to usher them on their way.
Black Press Media has not been to Lytton since July 9, 2021. Since then, dozens and dozens of burnt-out vehicles 乌鸦传媒� cars, trucks, campers, RVs 乌鸦传媒� have been removed, along with most of the chimneys, all that were left standing on many properties. Apart from that and the fencing, the site looks much as it did almost a year ago, with one major exception: several sites have now been cleared of debris, rubble and foundations.
These, explained O乌鸦传媒機onnor, are mostly properties of those with no insurance. The province stepped in several months ago, saying it would cover the cost of debris removal for the uninsured and the under-insured, but O乌鸦传媒機onnor said that led to considerable confusion.
乌鸦传媒淭he province told us they乌鸦传媒檇 always said they乌鸦传媒檇 pay for under-insured people, but the messages we got were mixed. At one press conference, they乌鸦传媒檇 say uninsured, and at the next, they乌鸦传媒檇 talk about under-insured.乌鸦传媒�
The truth, as O乌鸦传媒機onnor and others with insurance have found, is that almost everyone is under-insured, given that the cost for clean-up is higher than most policy limits.
Archaeological work 乌鸦传媒� which must be carried out at every property and overseen by trained workers, who watch as every load of dirt is removed 乌鸦传媒� is not covered in insurance policies. Policyholders and their companies needed confirmation that the cost would be covered by the province.
O乌鸦传媒機onnor is frustrated that some people have blamed insured property owners for slowing down the pace of debris removal.
乌鸦传媒淲e乌鸦传媒檝e been told it乌鸦传媒檚 our fault for not signing, but we乌鸦传媒檝e been waiting for the insurance companies to get it in writing before signing the right of entry form,乌鸦传媒� she said. 乌鸦传媒淭hat signs everything over to the village to clean up the property, and means that if anything happens we won乌鸦传媒檛 blame them. They won乌鸦传媒檛 start the insured clean-up until they get all the right of entry forms.乌鸦传媒�
We stopped at O乌鸦传媒橠wyer Park on Fraser Street, at the plaque marking Lytton as Canada乌鸦传媒檚 Hot Spot. The park was untouched by fire, and still contains the stone memorial, reading 乌鸦传媒淚n memory of Jim O乌鸦传媒橠wyer for outstanding and dedicated service to the community of Lytton and Lionism. Deceased Sept. 15, 1978.乌鸦传媒�
The O乌鸦传媒橠wyer house was at 525 Fraser St., and was the house O乌鸦传媒機onnor lived in until June 30 last year. The site is now like many others in town, reduced to a foundation surrounded by the charred remnants of everyday life. O乌鸦传媒機onnor, who is currently living in the family home where she grew up, which is above town and didn乌鸦传媒檛 burn, said she plans to rebuild the O乌鸦传媒橠wyer house.
Only it won乌鸦传媒檛 be the O乌鸦传媒橠wyer house anymore, she acknowledged. As in many small towns, where homes are still referred to by the names of someone who built it, or had lived there long ago, the O乌鸦传媒橠wyer house, like so many others, is gone. It can be rebuilt but much of the history is lost.
A few lots down on Fraser is the site of what was the Lytton Museum. It is now an empty lot, eerily smooth amidst the rubble. Several sites owned by the Village of Lytton, such as the museum and nearby fire hall, were among the first lots where debris was removed. The municipal building on 4th Street is untouched, but burnt-out chair frames are piled where a wall once stood.
Beside the museum site is the Lytton pool. The infrastructure around it was destroyed, including the visitor centre on Fraser. The pool itself, painted blue, had stood out in aerial photographs taken of Lytton post-fire, but on June 24 it was being jack-hammered out of existence.
Further down Fraser is the site of the Totem Motel, the oldest building in Lytton. As an uninsured building, the lot has been cleared, but O乌鸦传媒機onnor said the owners have no plans to rebuild. Across Fraser Street is the site of the Lytton Legion, painstakingly refurbished by volunteers over the last few years. That building was insured. The Legion has boxed up the cenotaph and put up a new flag, which flutters brightly, bravely in the stiff breeze.
The properties at the south end of Fraser Street have all been cleared, including the site of the house belonging to former Lytton public works employee Owen Collings. He is now a site manager on the recovery team, and it was he who recommended that those sites be cleared before freshet so people travelling past them on River Drive would not see the debris.
River Drive leads past the sewage treatment plant to a place called Hobo Hollow: a large parking lot at the east side of the CN rail bridge and the pedestrian bridge beside it leading from the west side of the Fraser River. Westside is not part of the Village of Lytton, but many people live there. They will park their cars on the west side, walk across the bridge, and use another car they keep parked on the east side to go into town and beyond.
Hobo Hollow is full of cars, as well as village-owned items 乌鸦传媒� benches, stone planters, garbage cans with plastic inserts 乌鸦传媒� recovered from the town above. Some were damaged beyond repair, while others looked fresh and clean, ready to go back on the sidewalks, whenever they are rebuilt.
Hobo Hollow is a key travel link, especially in spring, when freshet means the Lytton reaction ferry cannot operate, leaving the pedestrian bridge as the only way to get from Westside to Lytton itself. Youth employed by Lytton First Nation wait in the parking lot, and when laden-down shoppers return to Hobo Hollow their goods are loaded into wagons and pulled by the youth across the bridge. Collings knew that there would be a lot more vehicles travelling along River Drive when the ferry went out.
乌鸦传媒淭he ferry can be out for weeks, depending on the run-off,乌鸦传媒� said O乌鸦传媒機onnor. 乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 a real positive to have Owen because he knows a lot about the village.乌鸦传媒�
Collings was at the Two Rivers Market later that afternoon, he and his wife Patsy Gessey the only vendors left late in the day. The Lytton farmers乌鸦传媒� market had been voted best small market in B.C. in 2016. It has now reopened at Gwsep Gas on Highway 12 just outside town.
O乌鸦传媒機onnor picked up garlic scapes, beets, and kale from Collings and Gessey. Fresh fruit and vegetables are hard to come by in Lytton now. So is everything else, but O乌鸦传媒機onnor misses fresh vegetables.
She noted while the Village of Lytton only had a population of around 260 people, more than 2,000 people live in the surrounding area, in Thompson-Nicola Regional District Area 乌鸦传媒淚,乌鸦传媒� on First Nations reserves, and in unincorporated communities.
乌鸦传媒淭he Village of Lytton was a service community for so many people, not just from the village and from Lytton First Nation but from Skuppah, Siska, Kanaka Bar,乌鸦传媒� explained O乌鸦传媒機onnor. 乌鸦传媒淎t Christmas, we put together nearly 500 food hampers for area residents. We had all the services in Lytton, and people came here from Spences Bridge and Boston Bar for banking and groceries and health care.乌鸦传媒�
Banking is now in a Scotiabank trailer at Kumsheen Rafting Resort north of town (no cash deposits allowed). A tiny Canada Post trailer at Gwsep Gas allows people to receive packages and mail items but only if they have the correct postage as they can乌鸦传媒檛 buy stamps. Amazon does not currently deliver to Lytton, but plans are apparently in the works to change this.
Lytton and area residents have been hearing for a year about plans that are 乌鸦传媒渋n the works.乌鸦传媒�
The RCMP was going to set up a mobile detachment late in 2021 but now it might be late fall 2022. A bigger post office facility was promised. Temporary housing was to be constructed for village residents but nothing has been built. People in the village had been told that rebuilding might start as soon as fall 2022 - most people have now quietly moved that date back to at least spring 2023.
Don乌鸦传媒檛 tell that to Lytton First Nation, however. O乌鸦传媒機onnor drove us past IR 17 and IR 18, LFN land where clearing work has been completed. Further out of town, along Highway 12, we turned down Two Mile Road and then St. George乌鸦传媒檚 Road, where various grasslands have been cleared and dozens of new modular homes erected for LFN members. At the west end of the site, a new road was being carved up a hillside to join Highway 12, to provide easier access.
First Nations have their own autonomy and operate outside municipal and provincial legislation, so LFN has been able to move forward quickly, assisted by funding from the federal government.
In Lytton, by contrast, funding has trickled in: $1 million in 2021 to help the village keep operating; $8.3 million in February for debris removal, environmental and archaeological remediation, and to support the local government; another $18.4 million in March for more debris removal and remediation; $77 million in June to fund fire-resilient building costs and a Lytton Business Restart program.
It乌鸦传媒檚 a lot of money from the provincial and federal governments, but no one knows how much is needed. Questions remain about supply chain issues, the costs of rebuilding and what businesses will return and those that won乌鸦传媒檛.
O乌鸦传媒機onnor was pragmatic about the fact that the one-year mark attracted an unusually high amount of attention.
乌鸦传媒淚t keeps it in the public eye. If I don乌鸦传媒檛 see Lytton in the news for a month or so, or see something about how 乌鸦传媒楲ytton is rebuilding,乌鸦传媒� I乌鸦传媒檒l get some kind of story out because otherwise, people will think Lytton is moving ahead great guns.
乌鸦传媒淥ur story has to stay out there, or we乌鸦传媒檒l be forgotten.乌鸦传媒�
editorial@accjournal.ca
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