During a summer vacation when I was a child in the 1980s, I remember travelling through the Fraser Canyon in south central B.C., when I heard: 鈥淲elcome to Lytton. The hottest community in Canada today.鈥澛�
It was meant as a joke, of course, but it reflected the fact that Lytton would get very hot, and often was Canada鈥檚 hot spot. Every time I heard of Lytton, I always thought of the high temperatures facing people in the village.
Canadians now know just how hot it can be in Lytton, and with tragic consequences.聽
We suffered through a 鈥渉eat dome鈥� in Western Canada for the past couple of weeks. In southeast Saskatchewan, the worst of that heat came in late June and early July, when temperatures eclipsed 30 C and a heat warning was issued by Environment Canada. 聽
But our 鈥渉eat dome鈥� had nothing on B.C., where the temperatures exceeded 40 C in many communities. And the worst of that heat was in Lytton.聽
On June 27, Lytton eclipsed 46 C. It was the highest daytime temperature ever recorded in Canada, surpassing the 45 C experienced by the good folks in Midale and Yellow Grass on July 7, 1937. 聽
Midale and Yellow Grass鈥� record stood for nearly 74 years. It took just a day for Lytton to break its own record. On June 28, it was above 47 C. And the following day, it was 49.6 C. I don鈥檛 think anyone in Lytton was celebrating the distinctions.聽聽聽
Several other B.C. communities had temperatures warmer than what it was in Midale and Yellow Grass that one sweltering July day.聽
With such high temperatures throughout the province, the conditions were timber dry. And it resulted in forest fires, including one that engulfed much of Lytton, destroying about 90 per cent of the structures in the community, and leaving at least two people dead.聽
You might think that being in such a stifling hot area would result in an unattractive community, but that doesn鈥檛 describe Lytton and the rest of the Fraser Canyon. It鈥檚 been nearly 30 years since I鈥檝e been through there, but I remember it being a rather attractive region. Images of Lytton and other communities would back that up.
I can鈥檛 imagine what the people of that community are going through. Those who reside in small-town Saskatchewan understand how everybody knows everybody; it鈥檚 one of the charms, or the challenges, of small-town life, depending on your perspective. There鈥檚 only about 250 people in Lytton, with another 1,000 in the surrounding area. 聽
Residents of the village will eventually have to return to the community and find not only their home gone, but those of neighbours, family and friends as well. And for those whose homes weren鈥檛 destroyed, their feelings must alternate between elation, relief and guilt.
There have been other forest fires burning in B.C. Some have resulted in evacuations, while others are far away from communities, but it鈥檚 still difficult to see trees destroyed that have stood for centuries.
It鈥檚 been pretty hot here, but nothing we haven鈥檛 experienced before.
We know what it鈥檚 like to have 35 C temperatures, to be in ultra-dry conditions in which it doesn鈥檛 take much to start a grass or a forest fire.聽
So when the provincial government declares that there is to be no fires in provincial parks or on Crown-owned land, most of us pay attention. And those who don鈥檛 should heed the warnings. 聽
The government issued that edict because it was so dry and potentially dangerous outside.
We were lucky in the southeast to get a couple of really good rainstorms roll through that brought some serious rain, and some other briefer spells with precipitation. But a quick check of the provincial fire risk map shows that we were in the extreme risk territory until we received some rain on Monday.
And the heat dome didn鈥檛 last as long as it did elsewhere in Western Canada. Our temperatures the last couple of days have been closer to normal.聽
But we still need to be careful out there. Even if the fire risk isn鈥檛 extreme, use common sense. If the winds are high, don鈥檛 burn.
And don鈥檛 be a loser who flicks a cigarette from a moving vehicle. It鈥檚 not only unsightly, it鈥檚 also dangerous.聽
After all, nobody wants to be the one to cause a serious grass fire and put people鈥檚 homes at risk.聽
