‘Keep focused’: Lytton, B.C., under evacuation orders years after devastating blaze

Shae Stearns with Kamloops Fire Centre provides an update on wildfire efforts in B.C. and whether it is approaching communities.

LYTTON — Judith Urquhart said she’s doing what she has to do to remain focused and prepare for the possibility that a wildfire could force her to evacuate, five years after her home was destroyed by a different blaze.

Urquhart and her husband rebuilt their home that was destroyed in the devastating 2021 fire in Lytton, B.C., that razed most of the community, and now they are one of more than 150 properties under evacuation alert as a new fire threatens.

Thompson-Nicola Regional District issued an evacuation order Friday covering 47 addressed properties in the Village of Lytton, with 168 other addresses under evacuation alerts.

Urquhart said five years after being devastated, the community has been “trained” with help from the province with the knowledge it needs to be prepared for another emergency.

“We know that you have to be careful living here, but other people have had a very traumatic response. For us, we just look at it as you have to keep focused, you have to put your own emergency plans in place,” she said.

The Saw Creek wildfire was discovered Friday about three kilometres south of Lytton and was most recently measured at six square kilometres in size.

The BC Wildfire Service says it is burning out of control and they have labelled the blaze a wildfire of note, meaning it is “creating an increased level of interest.”

Urquhart said it was “not a good feeling” when the power went out for several hours on Friday but that BC Hydro was able to get it restored.

She said crews came by around 10 p.m. on Friday night to tell residents what was going on and gather information about how many people lived in the house, in the event they were ordered to leave.

Urquhart has a list of critical items to take with her if she has to evacuate and said she’s grateful for everyone working during the emergency.

“For all the first responders … the training in the last five years, the province, the federal government, who put money into the whole province for response to these fires,” she said.

“And people will say that’s not enough, but they’ve had a long way from zero to what we’re seeing today.”

On June 30, 2021, one day after Lytton recorded a Canadian temperature record of 49.6 C, a wildfire swept through the village, killing two people and levelling almost the entire community.

Despite more than $140 million in federal and provincial funding, the recovery has been slow, with only a few dozen homes rebuilt. There are currently about 75 residents in the village, which had a population of 210 before the 2021 fire.

Urquhart said some community members are turning to Facebook to check on one another and vent some of their fears about the latest fire.

“We have to reassure that person that they can take care of themselves. That there is steps that they can take for themselves, that they can move through this and not be hurt by it,” she said.

The regional district declared a state of emergency in Lytton and Blue Sky County,

About 130 firefighters have been assigned to the blaze along with nine helicopters and structure protection crews.

The flames of the Saw Creek wildfire have also forced the closure of Highway 1 for 116 kilometres, between Boston Bar and Cache Creek.

The Lytton First Nation has also issued an evacuation alert for some of its residents.

This report by Ashley Joannou of The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2026.