British Columbia: Train Blockage

A wildfire in British Columbia destroyed and flattened the village of Lytton. The leader of the First Nation Community are saying the rescue and evacuation efforts were mishandled. They want to see a better effort for the Provincial Government offer to the people in the area. This is an article from the Globe and Mail:

Good morning,

First Nations leaders in interior British Columbia are preparing for a train blockade to protest the provincial government and railway companies’ handling of the fire that destroyed 90 per cent of the town of Lytton. Anger has been building among First Nations in the region who saw rescue efforts as being slow and chaotic in the early hours of the fire.

Unless there is a better response to concerns regarding the community’s recovery and the handling of future rail operation, “We will likely be refusing any railway traffic,” said Matt Pasco, chair of the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council. Pasco has already seen workers repairing the destroyed railways while many of his fellow community members are struggling with little provincial support.

Locals have suggested that the fire, which left two dead and numerous others unaccounted for, was sparked by a passing train. While the official cause of the blaze remains under investigation, the B.C. Wildfire Service said it was likely the result of human activity – not lightning.

The fire, which broke out last Wednesday, burned out of control during a heat wave that shattered temperature records across Western Canada. Lytton, in particular, saw successive records for the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada. The B.C. Coroners Service has yet to determine how many people died as a result of the heat but confirmed that 777 people died between June 25 and July 1 – nearly four times the average for the same time period in the previous five years.