Four Richmond firefighters have been sent to Lytton to help fight a wildfire devasting the town.
Richmond Fire Rescue fire chief Tim Wilkinson told the Richmond News the province requested them at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night to assemble a team to send to the town – the team including a fire engine and four fire fighters were assembled at 1:30 a.m.
The Richmond team are headed up there with enough equipment to sustain operations for four days.
The local Member of Parliament for Lytton, Brad Vis, said in a Facebook post Thursday morning that the fire has caused “extensive damage” to the community and surrounding critical infrastructure. He said 90 per cent of the village is burned.
Wildfires were raging close to the town over the past week, but yesterday it started moving quickly into Lytton, prompting the mayor to evacuate the entire town Wednesday at 6 p.m.
According to Lytton Coun. Robert Leitch, the fire that caused the evacuation order started south of town around 5:15 p.m. and spread within 15 minutes, and that's when he left.
About 1,000 people in First Nations communities may also be ordered to evacuate, according to Scott Hildebrand, chief administrative officer of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District,.
Highway 1 remains closed through the area.
An evacuee reception centre has been set up in Merritt at 1721 Coldwater Ave.
Wilkinson said sending the team won’t affect Richmond’s operations as the team wasn’t scheduled to work for at least the next four days.
- With files from Castanet
