Tuesday, sparks of a failing wheel of a trailer of the Royal Gendarmerie of Canada (RCMP) sparked a forest fire near Lytton, British Columbia, according to the police and the fire service of the province.
The unspeakable fire is now 155 hectares.
The wheel broke around Tuesday around 2:20 p.m., and the sparks started a fire in a dry grass ditch, as explained by Sergeant Kris Clark, main agent of the media for the GRC British Columbia.
The agent stopped immediately and tried to put out the flames with his fire extinguisher, but the conditions obviously propagated the fire very quickly and they were unable to contain it.
Without understanding why the wheel has detached, the sergeant thinks thatAt this point, it seems that the equipment has simply failed.
The fire was classified as a worrying forest fire
Thursday, a category which means that the fire is particularly visible or that it presents a risk for public security.
The regional district of Thompson-Nicola decreed an evacuation order in this area from 9 a.m.is July. The latter is still in force.
Thursday evening, 85 fires were active in British Columbia, seven of which started in the last 24 hours.
The trailer carried equipment for police divers in search of a swimmer who has disappeared in Lake Seton, about 100 km northwest of Lytton.
It is devastating when we consider not only the region, but, in general, we already know a season of fairly intense forest fires. And we certainly don’t want to be those who cause them
said Sergeant Kris Clark.
The fire started one day after the fourth anniversary of a fire that destroyed most of Lytton and created many trauma in the region.
For Sergeant Kris Clark, this is a first. We had similar incidents where a car accident we attended triggered a fire, but nothing, to my knowledge, with regard to a real failure of the equipment.
The fires caused by human activity are less frequent
There are many causes of human fires for human fires, as Jen Strong, information agent at the fire service, explains.
If an electric line falls or if a branch strikes an electric line, humans have placed the electric line there, it is classified as a fire of human origin. The heat of an exhaust pot […]the light reflected by the glass or a mirror would be considered of human origin,
she lists.
However, fire departures due to human activities are less frequent than 10 years ago, she said.
Cigarettes specifically, materials related to smoking decreased 94 % this decade. Camp lights decreased by 60 % in the same period.
Likewise for forest fires triggered intentional, where 27 fires on nearly 1,700 forest fires in 2024 in the province were due to a voluntary trigger, according to Jen Strong.
It highlights the public awareness campaigns with a beneficial effect on the precaution of the population.
A lifestyle
According to the mayor of Lytton, Denise O’Connor, the feeling of post-traumatic stress disorder (TSPT) is still present for residents since the devastating of June 30, 2021.
It is still so traumatic for people. There are many people in the region who suffer from TSPT For four years.
Denise O’Connor, the mayor of Lytton in June 2024. Almost four years after the fire that almost completely destroyed it, the village of Lytton comes back to life, slowly but surely.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Justine Beaulieu-Poudrier
The fires are not unusual for us, even long before Lytton’s fire. So it’s a lifestyle here. We must be vigilant each summer,
adds the mayor.
She invites the public to get closer to the psychological help services and to their loved ones to compensate for the trauma always present.
Despite the traces left by the fire of 2021, the mayor is witness to the resilience of its population which has since implemented prevention practices, especially in the choice of building materials.
Like fiberociment panels, metal cladding, metal roofs, asphalt shingles are actually a fire -resistant roof. No more time of cedar shingles and this kind of thing.
