Wildfire officials acknowledged “deep concern” for the Village of Lytton on Tuesday as the community faces threat from yet another wildfire.
The Cantilever Bar wildfire, burning south of Lytton, was first spotted on Monday and has already grown to 150 hectares in size.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District and three First Nations have issued evacuation alerts, all for properties on the west side of the river.
“There were reports of ashes falling in Lytton last night,” Forests Minister Ravi Parmar said. “So for those who have been working hard to rebuild their homes, those who are looking to continue to come home over the next number of years, certainly a lot of concerns.”
Cliff Chapman, BC Wildfire Service director of wildfire operations, acknowledged the overnight ashfall was “very scary” for a community still recovering from the 2021 wildfire that burned the village to the ground.
“That valley usually sets the heat record when we are hot and dry in B.C. and it is at the bottom of a valley that has mountains running up on multiple sides, and fire likes to run up mountains,” he said.
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“Tactically and operationally, yes, we are concerned. We feel confident we have the right number of resources on that fire. There are more resources showing up today to both do structure protection as well as tactically fight the fire … we are actively suppressing the fire from the outside in.”
As of Tuesday, there were 62 active wildffires burning across B.C.
Officials are warning that the hot and dry weather forecast for the rest of the week will raise the risk of new fires across the province.
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