Canada election: Lytton fire puts village at centre of debate


It took only minutes for Lytton to go up in flames.

It was the end of June, and the tiny community in British Columbia had been making headlines worldwide for recording Canada's highest-ever temperature of 49.6C (121.3F).

Meriel Barber remembers it being "too hot for words".

"I was getting up at four in the morning to do things outside because you couldn't function in the middle of the day," she said.

Other residents were also staying indoors in an effort to keep cool. The streets were quiet, even by Lytton's standards.

Just 250 people lived in the village, while its surrounding indigenous reserves were home to over 1,000. The picturesque community is located about 260km (162 miles) north-east of Vancouver, and is the point where two rivers - the Thompson and the Fraser - meet.

Residents describe it as being a close-knit community that was steeped in indigenous history. It was a place, one said, where "everybody pretty much knows everybody".

Ms Barber moved to the area about a decade ago, and felt instantly at home.

"I found a place with these people and was welcomed in many different ways," she said. "I call them family."

On the day of the fire on 30 June, Ms Barber remembers boiling temperatures and "ferocious" winds.

She was focused on getting home after a day of work when she first saw a plume of smoke across the town.

Fires in British Columbia during the summer are common, and Ms Barber gave it only a passing thought, assuming it would soon be under control.

But after dropping off her work vehicle and heading back towards the town, a fire truck came "screaming past" with its lights flashing.

The truck pulled up across the road, blocking her route, and the fire chief warned her that Lytton was ablaze.

"Looking at him, I just couldn't comprehend what he was saying - I saw fire when I was coming through and it wasn't all over, it was just in one place," she said.





She pulled over at the side of the highway and stood alongside a small crowd of residents.

Before the phone lines went dead, Ms Barber made two calls. One was to make sure some elderly friends were safe, and the other to ask her landlord to get her cat, who she had shut in the house because of the extreme heat.

For the next six hours, she waited for news and watched her town burn.

Meanwhile, lifelong resident N'kixw'stn James had just finished having a shower and was watching television when a man ran into her home, yelling: "You have to get outta here. Lytton is on fire."

Ms James, 76, rushed into her bedroom and swapped her pyjamas for clothes. She already had a duffle bag packed with bedding ready for any possible evacuation, and grabbed her purse, car keys, phone and cap as the man shouted at her to hurry.

"As I stepped outside I saw a blizzard of hot ashes," she recalled.

She jumped into her car. The steering wheel was so hot it burnt her hands.

"I put it into gear and drove away from my house. A few metres away I heard an explosion. My propane tank blew up."

Ms James drove out of the area, guessing where the correct turns were located because the ash was clouding her view.

When she got to safety, a nurse put cream on her arms, legs and face, which had all been burnt by the ashes.