The Transportation Safety Board will come out with a highly-anticipated report tomorrow on the “possible relation” of a train to the Lytton Creek wildfire.
The report will come out at 10 a.m. and the TSB will be holding a news conference at 11 a.m.
The Lytton Creek wildfire was sparked on June 30 in an area of the town core in the Village of Lytton. With winds gusting at more than 70 kilometres per hour, the fire risk at “extreme” and the temperature at more than 47 degrees Celsius. The fire happened the day after Lytton broke the all-time heat record in Canada, when it reached 49.6 C on June 29.
Shortly after the fire started, most of the village was flattened – an estimated 90 per cent – and two Lytton residents were killed. The fire went on to burn more than 83,000 hectares of land and destroy dozens more structures.
On July 9, the TSB said “initial investigations conducted by the (RCMP) and BC Wildfire Service into the fire’s ignition point raised concerns regarding the potential involvement of a freight train.”
The TSB has an active page online about the fire investigation, and the updated report will be posted at 10 a.m. Thursday. That page can be found here. Investigator-in-charge James Carmichael will then speak to journalists at 11 a.m., and Radio NL will share details on air and online as soon as they become available.