Despite more than $140 million in federal and provincial funding commitments, only 20 homes have been rebuilt.
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As a new wildfire forces residents from their homes, Lytton is still struggling to recover from the 2021 blaze that nearly destroyed the entire community.
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The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has declared a state of emergency in Blue Sky Country and evacuation orders were issued for properties east of Highway 1 within the village.
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“There’s always the fear of fires,” Eric Siwik, a Lytton resident of more than two decades, said Saturday. Siwik mostly lives in a rental apartment in Abbotsford but frequently travels to Lytton.
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“I still haven’t got a house,” said the 80-year-old, who bears scars from the fire that left him with first- and second-degree burns to his head and arms.
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Despite the renewed threat, he remains committed to rebuilding his life in the village.
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“Everybody says hi to each other there, everybody knows everybody,” Siwik said. “It’s a wonderful little village where all my friends are.”
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The June 30, 2021 wildfire erupted a day after Lytton recorded Canada’s highest temperature of 49.6 C. The blaze destroyed nearly all of the village, killed two residents and damaged nearby First Nations communities.
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Despite more than $140 million in federal and provincial funding commitments, only 20 homes have been rebuilt. About 75 people now live in the village, down from roughly 210 before the fire.
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A March report from B.C.’s Auditor General Bridget Parrish highlighted some of the obstacles that have slowed the recovery. As of March, 33 building permits had been issued, with the first permit not approved until two years after the disaster.
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Siwik said some residents never returned. “Some people just gave up,” he said.
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The village has completed a public works building, reopened the Chinese museum as its first rebuilt business, and started work on a new village office.
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“The village still looks a bit like a bowling alley, but it’s starting to come back to life,” said Siwik, president of CKLS 95.7 FM Lytton, a community radio station.
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Larger projects are also moving ahead, including a nearly completed Royal Canadian Legion building and plans for a grant-funded community hub that could include a library, museum, pool and community gathering spaces.
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The report found the province largely expected the village to manage its own rebuilding despite having limited staff and resources, lacked a comprehensive disaster recovery framework, and existing policies were insufficient to support a recovery effort on Lytton’s scale.
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The report said 60 per cent of residents didn’t have insurance to cover losses, and provincial officials failed to establish effective collaboration between village officials and the Nlaka’pamux Nation, within whose traditional territory Lytton is located.
