On that fateful day in June, Denise O’Connor lost her house of 35 years. She’s been staying at a nearby family home, hoping and waiting to rebuild.
“There’s the trauma of the day of the fire, there’s the trauma of the uncertainties — you know, where are we going to live? My neighbour, who just turned 85 years old, is living in a hotel in Merritt still. She doesn’t know where she’s going to be,” O’Connor told CFJC News.
Lytton’s Main Street remains untouched, and according to residents, it looks almost exactly the same as it did after the fire. Toxic debris from the Lytton fire still sits on the ground and until it’s cleaned up, the mayor says the town will have to wait to make steps toward a rebuild.
“We had started debris removal back, the first week of November, this was before the highways were washed out. And we got shut down,” Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman says.
Mayor Polderman says it stopped because the village needed multiple permits, like heritage, building, and more. In order to start again, the Village’s recovery manager, Alison Poste, says the municipality has to fund its own cleanup.
But for a small community like Lytton, this is difficult.
“Unfortunately, Lytton doesn’t have the financial capacity at this time to finance the debris removal,” Poste says.
Lytton is asking the province to help with the funding — a responsibility that is not included in provincial legislation.
Parliamentary Secretary Jennifer Rice is the liaison between the government and Lytton. She says around $1 million has already been given to Lytton to pay its staff and for economic recovery, and more money is in the works.
“Most big things in government have to go through scrutiny through the treasury board. It’s not necessarily the most efficient, but that’s the way funding works,” Rice told CFJC News.
Rice says highway closures both in and out of Lytton have added to the cleanup delay. She anticipates that by February, outstanding permits will be approved, and debris can be cleared away. For residents who want to move forward, the wait is becoming frustrating.
“We don’t see action on the ground, and I think that’s really frustrating for the residents that are here and living all over the province, is we just don’t see things happening,” O’Connor says.
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