Disaster Date:06/30/2021
Lytton, BC
Fires
What Happened
On June 30, 2021 a wildfire swept through the Village of Lytton, destroying more than 90% of the town and killing two people. The fire wiped out the town’s infrastructure including the fire hall, police station, grocery stores, restaurants, town hall and records, museum, and approximately 100 homes. Quite miraculously, St. Barnabas Church, Rectory and Parish Hall survived the fire.
What MDS Is Doing
MDS BC Unit members visited the town site within a few months of the fire. Over the past 2 years, MDS volunteers have attended the Lytton Unmet Needs Committee meetings and 34 months after the fire, we have finally obtained a building permit for a house build.
Volunteers will be working on building a new 2-bedroom MDS design house.
Scheduling of weekly volunteers will begin in April.
Location
Lytton is located at intersection of the Thompson River and the Fraser River. During the summer months, the temperatures can skyrocket, as was the case for the 2021 fire, recording a record heat of 49 degrees. Because of high temperatures, MDS build site will take a break during the hottest months, in regard to volunteer safety and health.
Stories from the Field
Weekly Reports
We are off to a good start; we thought we were off to a good start!! Gordon and Maria Martens arrived Saturday afternoon, hoping to rest up from their two days of travel. Sadly, Sunday afternoon they received news that a close relative had passed...
Sunday: Pim and Mary-Ann Van Oeveren (cook) arrived from Salmon Arm, B.C. Mark and Jonathan arrived in time for orientation and ice cream. Monday: Lunches, breakfast, devotions, job assignments and off to work! Mary-Ann and Sandra braved a strong...
This has been an exciting week. A new volunteer, Jonathan Rempel, and some returning volunteers, Gerald, Mark, Connie, Ben and Otto, came to help the long-term volunteers Todd, Rhonda and Dave with the next stage of the house. The ridge vent...
