Mayor of Lytton looks forward to rebuilding community

“Sort of a feeling of helplessness. The whole town was on fire in 45 minutes including the reserve at the end of town.”

Mayor Polderman says it’s time to look forward as the township prepares to release its rebuild plan on Oct. 27. He also hopes to build a town that is better able to withstand wildfire.

“Our building bylaw may be one of the first building bylaws that will include fire resistant measures,” Polderman continued.

Investigators at the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada say they found no evidence linking the train activity in Lytton to the wildfire — but one resident believes it was a contributing factor.

Patrick Michell lives on the Lytton reserve with his wife who is a member of the band. He wants to see changes to the train that runs through the town.

“A train went through my town full of coal, the train before that was full of lumber, and the train before that was full of bitumen,” Michell said.

Although the mayor is also skeptical of the TSB’s report, he says the village has the chance to be innovative.

“The province would like to see us become a Net Zero community. A model for other cities and towns in the province,” Polderman explained.

And he hopes to start as soon as possible.

“Lytton isn’t that big, so I’m hoping that we can get it done in two years. The plan is to have the town remediated by next summer,” he said.

by Amandalina Letterio

Mayor of Lytton looks forward to rebuilding community

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