People will be moving back into the village of Lytton soon as the B.C. government sets up temporary accommodations at the fire-ravaged town.
It won’t be for former residents, though. It will be for up to 30 staff, consultants and construction workers who are about to start work on removing debris. That may promote efficiency. But burned-out residents could be excused for questioning again the recovery timeline that has developed since last summer’s fire.
The news of the work camp was delivered Monday and it drives two points home. It has taken an extraordinary length of time to get to this point in the recovery project. And it’s going to take much longer before Lytton can consider rebuilding underway, let alone near completion.
That impression is confirmed multiple times in the announcement. “We are literally clearing the way for the rebuilding of Lytton to begin in a tangible way,” Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said.
But the point is that announcement comes some 250 days after the Fraser Canyon fire. Even given the torrential autumn rainstorms following the fire that is a long time to wait for cleanup.
Opposition critics started zeroing in on the long timeframe weeks ago. You could tell the government is sensitive to the issue by the number of politicians involved in Monday’s production. There were four: Farnworth, two parliamentary secretaries and another minister quoted in a press release.
They committed another $18.4 million on top of $9.3 million promised earlier. It will cover the “substantial costs” of debris removal, archeological work and soil remediation for 200 municipal and under-insured and uninsured properties in the village.
“We are doing everything possible to speed up the progress and support the community through the very challenging and ongoing work,” he said.
After debris is removed, B.C. will fund archeological work that would otherwise be covered by the residents, as the area is of cultural importance. That work is being done under one umbrella permit, but if a culturally significant artifact is found, excavation work must cease and additional permitting would be required.
Farnworth said a significant amount of rebuilding work has been done. He said toxic materials had to be dealt with and a lot of sifting done by volunteers to recover personal effects. The rainstorms also had significant effects because they curtailed road use.
“There have been many challenges on a community that was completely and totally destroyed.”
After debris is removed, remediation work will begin. The government said it is complex and “while some areas could be complete in months, others could take significantly longer.”
B.C. also contributed $6 million in emergency support to people up to last December, when the Red Cross took over that role. It is now supporting 170 households, with some continued provincial funding.
Former residents scattered in temporary accommodation all over are getting impatient and Opposition critics are relaying that impatience in the house.
Some of the earlier rescue funding was approved by way of a bill and both Green and B.C. Liberal MLAs pointed out it took over six months just to get that stopgap measure introduced.
The delays push the running tab for the recovery higher. They also raise questions about how many former residents will come back to the community when it is eventually habitable.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada displayed the same impatience as opposition critics. It hiked the damage estimate to $102 million from the original estimate of $78 million.
“It has been over six months,” said official Aaron Sutherland in January. “Yet the reconstruction has yet to be permitted. … Greater urgency is needed.”
Just So You Know: One question for future reference is whether the province should have taken a more direct role in decision-making. The village didn’t have much capacity to begin with, even before all its records and infrastructure were destroyed. Its leadership suffered losses and was just as traumatized as everyone else. A guiding hand on the hundreds of decisions that had to be made could have moved things along faster.
The MLA for the region, Liberal Jackie Tegart, helicoptered over the disaster with Premier John Horgan a week after the inferno. She said she urged him to put a team on the ground to lead the recovery. “It didn’t happen.”
She marked Day 250 with a tweet to the NDP government. “Shame on you.”
