Guest Blog featuring Kathryn Brooks (Final Chapter)
The Aftermath of the Lytton Wildfire -
by Kathryn Brooks
Gues
…continued from Part 2
Day 3 and beyond
The next morning, we woke up and headed south. We ended up registering with ESS in Chilliwack and the welcoming there was amazing. They were friendly, helpful, and informative. We stayed in a hotel in Langley. On that Sunday, I called the Ashcroft RCMP and reported my dad as missing. Within 2 hours, they called to say that they had located him and ESS from Cache Creek was taking care of him. This was a huge relief for my mom and me. We stayed in Langley for a week and then were told that there was no availability for a room so we headed back to Chilliwack to find out what would be next. They offered us a room in Surrey. This was getting farther from home. I asked about the possibility of staying in Cache Creek to reunite my mom and dad. They arranged it for us and on Friday, we checked out of that hotel with all our worldly belongings and made the day trek to Cache Creek where we stayed for the next 7 weeks until being told ESS would no longer be available after August 28th (60 days post fire). I rushed to find mom and dad a place to live as neither the insurance company nor I had been successful in finding a place (even for renting). Luckily, the Ashcroft Indian Band had just finished building a 6-unit seniors home. Mom and Dad went for an interview, filled out an application and moved in on September 1st. Sandy and I got an apartment in Lillooet, just over an hour drive away. This would be the first time in my life I was this far away from my mom. I was used to seeing her every day. Needless to say, this was a huge adjustment for us both. I was also located an hour away from my children in the opposite direction. We texted, facetimed and visited as often as we could. In September, I was finally able to travel to Kanaka one day a week for work on site. I missed the office atmosphere so much.
Picking up the pieces
The entire community was fenced off citing ‘toxic’ air and property owners were not allowed to access or view their property. The wind in Lytton is notoriously known for its speed and howls most days. Wouldn’t the toxic air be moved away by the winds?
I was unable to view my property until 99 days post fire and only from the sidewalk. This was one of the hardest things I had ever done. The peach tree in the backyard still had all the burnt peach pits on the tree. These tasty treats would have been ready to be picked in a couple of weeks into July. The beautiful patio lights that strung between the trees were still hanging, melted and distorted. We stayed for several hours, and it was heartbreaking to leave home. Even though everything was burnt, mostly beyond recognition, it is still home and always will be.
About 10 days later, I was able to attend the property with Team Rubicon and they sifted areas inside my foundation where I thought I might hope to find something. They found half of my Pandora bracelet, 2 of the 3 charms, a Crystal necklace, a silver dollar coin and 2 rings that all held very sentimental value to me. My gnome birdbath in the far back corner of my yard survived the inferno with no damage. The bird feeder above was a melted mess. I kept these items, not sure why as I can never enjoy the jewellery again. The coin was one of the many, very old coins that I had received from my grandmother’s estate. She passed away almost 13 years ago, just 10 days before her 103rd birthday. I am very grateful that Team Rubicon was so understanding during this process.
As I write this, mid-December, we still do not have free access to our properties. There is no plan in place for temporary housing. We are all dispersed across Canada. It soon be 6 months since the fire took place and with only 18 months left on our insurance claims, there is a high likelihood we will be forced to take a settlement and lose out thousands upon thousands of dollars in coverage. We are not able to commence with hiring a company to start cleaning our lots and we cannot speak to builders as no one knows what we can rebuild due to building bylaw #750.
Where do we go from here?
Rebuilding and recovery as a collective is not an easy feat and we rely on our leadership to help navigate this path. Days after the fire, Councillor Ian Hay from the Village of Lytton reached out to me. He was always kind and compassionate to my family and me. He checked in with us to make sure we were okay and to see where we were, and he still does this to this day. I appreciated this very much. What I’m expressing below is not meant to be a laundry list of complaints but I believe these conversations need to be had. It’s never possible to make everyone happy but some of the decisions made by the Village still puzzle and frustrate me.
1. Building Bylaw #750: the week following the fire, the Village Mayor and Council introduced Building Bylaw #750 and put a freeze on new building permits. The mayor was quoted stating that ‘not everyone is going to be able to afford to rebuild in Lytton’. He wanted to build a net zero community at Step 5 code, fire resistant with a district energy system. I am all for being green and the future of our community, but insurance companies are not going to pay for building anything outside of what we had before. The extra costs would come at the homeowner’s expense. Not everyone has the money or ability to qualify for lending to do this. Lytton has an aging population, and they live on pensions. I am scared for them. When seniors housing is in high demand and wait lists are a mile long, how will they live? Where will they live? How will they survive when they can’t return home?
2. Village priority: Shortly after the fire, the Mayor and Council met. One of the first discussions was about “village branding”. I like most people would have assumed any of the following to be first on the agenda: temporary housing, Village recovery, clean up, rebuild. I didn’t understand how this came to be an important subject in a tragedy?
3. Property Tax: the Village also advised property owners that they would not have to pay their 2021 Property taxes. They are waived for the year. Anyone that paid this before June 30th will have a credit for the next year. Recently, they have rescinded and reissued property tax bills the first week of December with a due date of December 31, 2021.
4. Donations: the Village is a recipient of donations and gift cards from people, organizations, and businesses that wanted to help the citizens of Lytton who lost everything. The Council passed a motion that these gift cards were to be distributed by random draw for fairness. They then allowed a needs survey to be posted on their website tied to the distribution of these gift cards that were donated to them in good faith. The first disclaimer in the survey was that you had to agree to the release of all your personal information to everyone and anyone to complete the survey and be eligible for the draw. I am a very private person and did not agree to this. The next page thanked me for my participation but unfortunately, I would be unable to complete the survey and would not be entered into the draw. The Village has since decided to arrange an Unmet Needs Committee for distribution of these cards. To this date, this committee has not been formed. In a meeting held on December 10th, Mayor and Council directed that cash donations be used to pay for the Utilities, Water and Sewer billings – for anyone who lost their home or whose home is deemed uninhabitable. They have not been in a position to supply the town with these services since June 30th. Properties above the highway that survived the fire will receive a 15% reduction in their billings and this 15% will be paid from cash donations as well. This should not be what this money, donated in good faith, is used for.
5. Transparency: the Village has formed a Citizens Advisory Committee to give feedback on the rebuilding of Lytton. People were asked to apply to be on the committee yet they handpicked from those applications and then appointed others.
Healing.
I know I’m not alone in saying this: I suffer from PTSD, including nightmares, insomnia, and a reluctance to leave the apartment unless it is to see family or for work. I know I need to seek the support I require to heal from the disaster of June 30th. I love my job and what I do at Kanaka but I can no longer give them the quality and quantity of work that I have set out as expectations of myself. This weighs heavily on me and consumes me. Regrettably, I gave resignation to leave my position at Kanaka.
Life goes on. One step in front of the other. I have reached out for counselling and had my first session this week. The nightmares are still there. I can still feel the black smoke in my lungs and not being able to squeeze a drop of oxygen out of it. The burns have healed but I find myself touching the spots often.
Still, all I want is just to go home. Everyday single day.
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