BURNT TO THE GROUND: Helicopter images of the center of Lytton show a center leveled. Foto: Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press
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More residents in the Canadian city of Lytton are still unaccounted for. The mother and daughter of Caley Macintyre managed to escape the flames. Still, she tells VG about shock and a lot of anxiety.
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The village of Lytton in British Columbia is the closest burned to the ground in a forest fire, after strong heat waves have hit the region recently. On Thursday, the village put one historic heat record in Canada, when over 49 degrees was shown on the degree scale.
It was Wednesday night that the village was hit by a powerful forest fire caused by the heat wave. The mayor of the city, Jan Polderman, said during a press conference on Wednesday night that the approximately 1000 inhabitants only had 15 minutes to evacuate when the flames came towards them.
Escape the sea of flames
One of those affected by the fire is Caley Macintyre. On the phone from Vancouver, the local Lytton resident tells about how she was met by roadblocks when she was going into her hometown after being at work on Wednesday night.
By then, the flames had engulfed the city.
Macintyre’s mother in her 80s and daughter were in Lytton when the fire started, but managed to evacuate in time. Now the family is gathered in Vancouver, where they are sheltered by friends and family.
Although the family is safe, Macintyre is worried about the family’s horses, which they were not allowed to take with them when they escaped.
– We live on a small farm, and when the fire approached, my daughter had no choice but to let them out of the fence, she says.
Looking for missing friends and family on Facebook
But not all Lytton residents have been as lucky as Macintyre. Several of the inhabitants are still not accounted for. The city’s Facebook groups are calling for more information about how their homes have survived the fire, and whether anyone has made contact with missing friends and family.
– It is a lot of shock, and many big losses, says Macintyre. 90 percent of our city is leveled, and people are still trying to account for their loved ones.
– How are you right now?
– I’m very anxious. There is a great lack of information from the authorities. There is a lot of speculation on Facebook and social media, and it is difficult to know how to deal with it
No one feels safe now
In the town of Merritt 100 kilometers from Lytton, former Lytton resident Miriam Verheyden says that Merritt has set up a crisis center for the evacuated inhabitants from Lytton.
She says that most of the inhabitants of Lytton are part of the indigenous group Tl’kemtsin, which she describes as very open and nice people.
—-Former Lytton resident Miriam Verheyden describes the city as a war zone Photo: Private
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Lately, the news picture in Canada has been characterized by an unmarked mass grave has been found at a former boarding school to which children of the indigenous people were sent from 1899 to 1997. Due to the grotesque findings, Verheyden says that it brings up very traumatic memories and feelings of Canada’s indigenous people. Therefore, there were several who chose not to celebrate Canada’s National Day on July 1.
– First they had to deal with the discovery of that mass grave, and then came this terrible fire, which has wiped out the whole city. The sun over the city is completely red due to all the smoke, and it looks like a war zone there.
– Global warming is here, and it feels like Mother Earth is angry with us. No one in the area feels safe right now, and everyone is afraid of what will happen next, Verheyden concludes.
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