Former residents of Lytton settle in new communities and wait for the town to rebuild after a fire

Two women who lost their homes in the Lytton fire on June 30, 2021 say they are among the lucky ones.

Both had good insurance to help them after the fire devastated Lytton.

Michele Feist lives in a house she bought in Williams Lake after the fire.

Judith Urquhart and her husband Ross are renting a house from the Ashcroft Indian Band while they wait to see whether or not they will return to Lytton.

Feist is a retired nurse and said she was blown away by the friendliness of Williams Lake.

“It exceeded my expectations,” she said.

When she called while being evacuated from Lytton, asking to find a place to buy in Williams Lake with a yard for her dog, Feist recalled being in complete shock and being informed by a real estate agent “we have your back.”

The real estate agent said that due to the 2017 fires in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region, she could relate to what Feist was going through.

Prior to moving to Williams Lake, she was living in a trailer at a campground when it began to become clear that the promise of interim housing for evacuees was not going to materialize.

“There was no leadership from any level of government. Prime Minister Trudeau was talking about us in the past tense and it was clear we were going to be symbolic,” Feist said. “When you’re a human being, you don’t want to be a symbol.”

Feist said she considered herself one of the lucky ones because she had good insurance, good credit, family and friends, and she landed in a good place moving to Williams Lake.

Her best friend from Lytton moved to Midway because she and her partner have dogs and they weren’t going to find a rental.

“People are always moved,” Feist said. “I can’t get regular answers on anything. I don’t understand why a year and a half later, there is no movement.

Feist lived in Lytton for six years and owned a small house on the corner of Fraser Street and Third. She imagined growing old there and enjoyed living in the community.

“My insurance coverage was adequate, but all the money that was announced by the federal government depends on the construction in some way. I would like to install solar panels on this house in Williams Lake, but I can’t afford to smart-fire this whole house.

Raising her arm to emphasize a point at the top, she explained that there are good and great ideas, but there is no clear path to help residents achieve these goals.

“No one disputes the fact that we need to be fire safe, that we need to recognize people are aging in place and recognize the climate crisis.”

The response to the Lytton fire has been inadequate and opaque, she added.

“They forgot that there are people who still live in motels.”

Urquhart said they couldn’t live in the Ashcroft house they were renting forever and that if anyone in the band needed it, the deal was that they would move out.

Their Lytton property was large enough that they could eventually rebuild, but at this stage they have not decided whether to rebuild or move.

Originally from Nova Scotia (NS), she moved to Lytton with Ross in 1974 when she was hired as a teacher for the school district.

At first she missed the farms of Nova Scotia, but within a few years they had settled down and really enjoyed the mountains of British Columbia.

She became attached to her work as a teacher and to the students.

“Lytton has become our community in our hearts.”

Prior to the fire, she was principal of Kumsheen Secondary School in Lytton.

Their house was right downtown, at 87 Main Street. A small house when they bought it, they enlarged it over the years.

“It was like that in Lytton. If a carpenter moved to town, everyone would insist on having work done on their house, or a roofer, you know,” she said.

Ross has always had a job too.

He arrived with a bachelor’s degree in commerce, then worked as a childcare worker and later for the highways while obtaining a master’s degree in political science. In April 2022, he was elected as a councilor in the Lytton by-election, but did not stand in the October general election.

On June 30, 2021, when it was obvious they had to leave because the fire was moving so quickly, Urquhart said they decided to drive off in their vehicles and meet at the Jade Springs restaurant on the highway at the above the city.

She remembers people from the community staggering around the store looking for bottled water in total shock.

As the fire progressed they continued to move east, stopping to regroup, and eventually reached Cache Creek where they booked into Bear’s Claw Lodge.

“We thought we would be there for a few days until the fire was out and then we would go home.”

With the devastation in Lytton meaning they couldn’t return, they moved to the Merritt area where she said the volunteers at the emergency services center were amazing.

“They were there for us and people coming from Highway 8.”

After staying in a few motels and Airbnbs, they moved to Ashcroft on October 5, 2021.

Since the fire, they have made several trips to their property in Lytton, sifting through the rubble for valuables.

Anyone wishing to enter the community must make an appointment.

It was a “very slow” process, she said, adding that it took a year and a half to sort out their insurance.

“You have to be proactive. We were our own fitters and quickly realized that we couldn’t be reactive because it took too much energy.

In June 2022, the federal government announced $77 million in funding to help rebuild a fire-resistant and energy-efficient community.

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