Many Lytton residents will be able to see what’s left of their community during a bus tour on Friday.

Debbie Sell, an information officer with the Thompson Nicola Regional District’s emergency operations centre, says there will be capacity for at least one person from every household to go.

“It will be just an out-the-window viewing. It is quite hazardous there. Not just with views, but also they’ve actually had to clear a path for us. Because of course there’s downed lines and all kinds of things that are quite dangerous.,” Sell tells NL News.

“We won’t even be able to deviate off the road. And then we’ll be taking the residents through, and then to a meeting place for the residents.”

The TNRD is still gathering numbers, Sell says, on how many people will take part. She says the regional district is considering doing pick-ups in Kamloops, Merritt, Chilliwack and Whistler, based on where evacuees fled to on short notice.

She says in 2017, on a smaller scale, the TNRD also did a tour for residents in the Boston Flats neighbourhood between Ashcroft and Cache Creek, which was flattened by the Elephant Hill wildfire the day that blaze broke out.

“We found that it was really appreciated by the residents who had been impacted, because they knew it would be some time before they would be able to get in on their own. And this was a way for them to see things firsthand. See the surrounding area. Really get an understanding of what has happened, rather than just seeing pictures that other people have posted. So it’s a learning that we had from the 2017 fires that we decided would be a good thing to do here.”

Sell says it’s too soon to say yet when Lytton residents, or others, could be allowed back in the community on their own.

The town was razed by a suspected human-caused wildfire on June 30, and at least two people have died.