Residents in the Village of Lytton will be commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Lytton Creek Fire during a private event next week.
Organized by and for community members who were directly impacted by the fire on June 30 last year, it will be a chance for them to come together to reconnect and support one another.
Hundreds of homes in Lytton were reduced to charred rubble, including that of Byron Spinks, who says it is still hard to talk about the loss.
“I think it’s part of the healing process that each and every one of us is going to,” he said. “We wanted to commemorate June 30 and remember it as a period in our lives that had a very big impact on everyone that lives in Lytton.”
“This is not a homecoming event by any means,” Spinks added. “I think we’ve been grieving for the last year. All of our people have been impacted but we’re here to stay and we’re here to rebuild our community.”
The June 30 event will also include the burial of a time capsule created by students at the Stein Valley Nlakapamux School and community members.
Edith Loring-Kuhanga, the Stein Valley Nlakapamux School Administrator, also lost a home in downtown Lytton. Speaking Wednesday, she said she didn’t have another place to live in until just a couple of weeks ago.
“For the past year, I have been couch surfing whenever I have come to Lytton or stayed in hotels in Lillooet,” Loring-Kuhanga said.
“We recognize that there are many of our people who are in the same situation and so, it is quite a sensitive time for us thinking that we have come a year and yet for many of us, it still as if it were July 1.”
Village staff have said they’re hoping that residents will have access to their homes to start rebuilding by the end of September, once the cleanup is complete.
A schedule of events for the June 30 event can be found here.