Wednesday - Aug. 27, 2025 - Lytton celebrates first municipal building rebuilt after the 2021 fire

☀️ High 28C

Good morning!

The current heat wave is giving me flashbacks of the miserable week we spent in 2021 during the historic Heat Dome. I’ve lived in hot countries before, but we always had air conditioning or homes designed to maximize cool airflow, with huge windows placed strategically where air currents naturally flow.

Our apartment here is like a greenhouse with huge windows that we cannot open. It is designed to maximize heat retention in the winter, with no thought of what people will do in the summer.

During the 2021 heat wave, we searched for portable air conditioners, but they were sold out everywhere. We had to improvise.

I froze small wet towels, which we put on our heads to keep ourselves cool, misted our faces with small spray bottles, and used ice packs to stay cool at night. COVID times meant that all the indoor public spaces with air conditioning only allowed people in for a short while, and we had to wear masks.

Of course, some places had it worse. Lytton set a new record of 49.6 degrees the day before the place went up in flames. I was glad to hear that Lytton is making progress with rebuilding after the devastating 2021 fire that destroyed 90% of the village.

What a strange year that was. A few months later, torrential rains destroyed bridges, roads, and swept homes away. It all felt quite apocalyptic. Or at least we thought so at the time.

– Lubna

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

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🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

News

After school program comes to schools in Mission and Hope 

BC nonprofit, United Way, is expanding its after-school program, School’s Out, to two new sites in Mission and one at Chawathil First Nation near Hope. The program aims to support children who are food insecure and have limited access to after-school programs during critical hours once the school day ends. Children aged 6-12 will be able to access the program starting this fall. 

“One of the things that we know is that investing in kids in the middle years is really important, because this is the time in your life when they’re learning not just who they are, but who they can be,” said Trisha Dulku, strategic initiatives manager at United Way British Columbia.

Dulku told The Current that the program aims to support children’s social and emotional development, helping them foster positive pro-social relationships and build the skills necessary for emotional regulation. She gave the example of an activity involving a “worry box” that aims to teach younger children to express and process their emotions. 

“Whenever they’re feeling those complicated feelings where they’re not quite sure the name to put to it, they can write it down and then put it into a box,” Dulku said. “Then through a conversation circle, they have a conversation with their leaders and peers about what they’re feeling, and everyone can share an example of a time when they felt that way, or how they’ve used different coping strategies to deal with it.”

Read more here.

Related

Need to Know

🌡️ Chilliwack shattered daily temperature records on three consecutive days over the weekend, with temperatures reaching 10 degrees above normal and hitting peaks of 35C. [Chilliwack Progress]

🎣 A fisherman's alert response helped Hope Search and Rescue teams locate and successfully rescue someone from the Fraser River after an overnight search operation involving helicopters and multiple rescue crews. [Chilliwack Progress]

🏛️ Mission council has approved the final design for a Japanese-Canadian heritage pavilion in Centennial Park that will serve as a community gathering space while honouring pre-internment families who shaped the city's development. [Mission City Record]

🏅 More than a dozen athletes from Abbotsford captured multiple medals at the Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland, with local wrestlers leading the charge by sweeping their competition categories. [Abbotsford News]

🎣 Conservation officers issued numerous citations for illegal fishing activities on the Fraser River in the days leading up to the official sockeye salmon season opening, including violations for barbed hooks and over-possession. [Abbotsford News]

🏊‍♀️ The Agassiz-Harrison Aquanauts swim team concluded their season at provincial championships in Prince George after hosting a record-breaking local meet with 418 competitors and earning multiple regional medals. [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

🚶‍♀️ The annual Fraser Valley Ovarian Cancer Walk of Hope will take place Sept. 7 at Mill Lake Park in Abbotsford, offering 2.5 or 5-kilometre routes to raise funds for research and support. [Hope Standard]

🥾 The popular Serpent's Back Trail in Hope has reopened to hikers after recent rainfall helped firefighters contain a 1.5-hectare wildfire that had closed the area since early August. [Hope Standard]

🚁 Search and rescue teams used helicopter assistance to evacuate an injured hiker with a possible leg injury from the Mount Lindeman area near Chilliwack Lake on Monday afternoon. [Fraser Valley Today]

🚗 A Fraser Valley driver received more than $10,000 in fines after nearly striking a Langley RCMP officer while attempting to evade a traffic stop and subsequently failing impaired driving tests. [Fraser Valley Today]

👩‍🎓 Know a university hopeful? Bring them to KPU’s Open House on Oct 4 for a sneak peek at student life. Register for free today!*

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The Agenda

Lytton celebrates first municipal building rebuilt after the 2021 fire

Four years after the devastating fires that destroyed much of the Village of Lytton, the town is celebrating the opening of the first permanent municipal building to be rebuilt after the fire. On Friday, Aug. 29, the Village of Lytton will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its newly rebuilt Public Works Building at 11am at 30 Main St., Lytton.

The new modular building was funded through a $1 million grant from the province and $52,328 from the Village’s resources. Other buildings in the planning stages include a permanent fire hall, the Village Office, and the Community Hub.

The event will start with remarks by Village of Lytton Mayor Denise O’Connor, provincial minister of emergency management, and climate readiness Kelly Greene, followed by the ribbon-cutting ceremony and a community celebration.

“The Village of Lytton is thrilled to celebrate the completion of the Public Works Building. This is the first permanent municipal building to be rebuilt and is a tangible sign that Lytton continues to move forward. We are thankful for the provincial funding for this project and the ongoing funding and support from both the Government of Canada and Province of British Columbia for Lytton’s recovery and rebuilding,” O’Connor said in a statement. “We are also grateful for the continued support of community members, volunteers, community organizations, neighbours, and partners, and look forward to celebrating other rebuilding milestones together in the future.”

The 2021 Lytton wildfire started on June 30, 2021, during one of the worst heat waves in BC. On June 29, 2021, Lytton recorded the highest temperature in Canada, reaching almost 50C. The fire destroyed 90% of the Village and killed two people. 

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🗓 Things to do

Live music performance: Multi-instrumentalist Kyler Pierce performs at Sidekick Brewing's Sidestage Live Music Series on Thursday, Aug. 28 from 7-9pm with $6 beer specials all day.

Golden hour flower workshop: Join Greendale Acres on Thursday, Aug. 28 from 6-8pm for a $45 guided flower arranging experience including farm access, bucket of seasonal flowers, refreshments, and photo opportunities during golden hour.

Free archives tour: Join the Chilliwack Museum & Archives on the last Friday of each month at 3pm at 9291 Corbould St. for a behind-the-scenes look at their historical collections and preservation work, no registration required.

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Catch up

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