Destruction in Lytton remains, May 12, 2022 (Image Credit: Global BC)

By Michael Reeve

LYTTON REBUILD

‘By September our residents will be able to go back to their homes’: Lytton mayor

May 12, 2022 | 4:29 PM

LYTTON, B.C. —

“The village will be rebuilt. There is absolutely no chance that this village will not be rebuilt. Should people or insurance companies want to procrastinate, this town is under a state of emergency and I will order it cleaned up.” -Jan Polderman, mayor of Lytton.

If you drive down the main street in Lytton, the village looks almost as it did 10 months ago after wildfire ripped through town. Yes, excavators are operating and crews are working, but the debris and rubble remains.

“Get faster with the clean up, get rid of it. It hurts everybody to see the town after months and months and months. It’s hard to heal when you see all the debris, get rid of it, level the town,” said resident Pierre Quevillon.

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“We are sort of faced with our residents wanting to be back yesterday. Yet, as a village we are looking to build a town that will be here for 100 years. Those two objectives kind of clash at times,” said Polderman.

Today federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair toured the damage, along with Mayor Polderman, meeting local residents still displaced from the June 30^th fire. A single word was top of mind for the minister following his tour, a word residents will be happy to hear.

“I think it helps us all understand the urgency but also the pride that those people have in their communities. I think it deepens all of our resolve, it has to deepen our resolve to come together, to work together to get the job done,” said Blair.

“We are talking about people still in motel rooms, and we are over 300 days. I’m appalled by the lack of response from the provincial government,” added Fraser-Nicola MLA Jackie Tegart. “I hope that today with the federal minister being in Lytton that he will give a phonecall to his counterpart in the provincial government and ask him what is going on here.”

Red tape continues to hamper the efforts to bring residents home with differing insurance agencies providing different levels of assistance.

Pierre has been living in a motel since the blaze last June, and fears he could still be there for the next few years as he works to clear his property.

“My lot, there is one load of dust. They want 60-grand, for one load of dust. It took one day of work with a backhoe, it’s not worth $60,000,” said Quevillon.

“The challenges that many people are having with their insurance companies. (Mayor Polderman) has asked and I will be having a conversation with the Insurance Bureau of Canada,” said Blair.

Almost 11 months since the fire and now finally with funding almost in hand for village, Mayor Polderman has set a lofty timetable for Lytton homecoming.

“I feel confident that by September our residents will be able to go back to their homes and that the village will be well on its way to being rebuilt,” said Polderman.

No funding was announced on Thursday (May 12), however Minister Blair did speak to over $400-million in disaster financial assistance funding coming soon for communities across B.C. devastated by last year’s wildfire season.