Edith Loring-Kuhanga wandered through the gymnasium at the Stein Valley Nlakapamux School in Lytton, British Columbia, surrounded by clothing and other basic necessities piled high on foldable tables.
They were items donated after fire ripped through her tiny community on June 30, destroyed nearly everything in its path.
Ms Loring-Kuhanga remembers watching her home and her neighbours' properties engulfed in flames as ash rained from the sky.
“It was just like a horror movie,” she said. "Everybody was running and yelling, ‘Get out of here, get out of here'."
Months later, many residents are still living in hotels or with family and friends and unsure when, or if, they will ever be able to return to their homes.
Picking up the pieces
Determined to rebuild, the Village Council of Lytton in July outlined an ambitious plan for an infrastructure system that is energy efficient and to rebuild with fire-retardant materials.
But some villagers have grown frustrated with the council over what they say is a lack of communication and transparency.
Many have not even seen what personal belongings survived the blaze. Only last month they were given the name of a third-party organiser to help them safely go through their debris.
Lytton resident Jennifer Thoss said two of the organisations aiding these efforts are Evangelical Christian groups, which has made a portion of the Indigenous community in the village very uncomfortable.
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Mary Stockdale holds an apple singed by extreme heat that hit Western Canada in June and July. Willy Lowry / The National -
A thank you sing written on a Canadian flag hangs at the entrance to a firefighters camp in Vernon, BC. Willy Lowry / The National -
Mary Stockdale poses with her dog outside her home in Vernon, BC. Willy Lowry / The National -
A sign thanking firefighters hangs outside a camp in Vernon BC, where fire crews were stationed during the BC fire season. Willy Lowry / The National -
Mary Stockdale keeps several bags packed and ready by her front door, just incase she needs to leave in a rush. Willy Lowry / The National -
A thank you sign to firefighters hangs outside their camp in Vernon, BC. Willy Lowry / The National -
Burned trees on a mountainside in British Columbia. Willy Lowry / The National -
A firefighters camp in Vernon, BC. Crews slept in tents as the battled wild fires throughout the Canadian province. Willy Lowry / The National -
Mike Flannigan, a self described "fire guy" who is the research chair in predictive services, emergency management and fire sciences at Thompson Rivers University poses for a photo. Willy Lowry / The National -
Edith Loring-Kuhanga sits on bench outside the Stein Valley Nlakapamux School in Lytton, BC. Willy Lowry / The National -
Edith Loring-Kuhanga sorts through dried goods that have been donated to the Stein Valley Nlakapamux School in Lytton, BC to help residents who have been displaced. Willy Lowry. / The National -
Piles of clothes at the Stein Valley Nlakapamux School in Lytton, BC. The school has served as a place where displaced residents can pick up canned goods and food. Willy Lowry / The National -
Piles of clothes at the Stein Valley Nlakapamux School in Lytton, BC. The school has served as a place where displaced residents can pick up canned goods and food. Willy Lowry / The National -
The side of a hill near Monte Lake was completely burned by a fire this summer. Willy Lowry / The National -
A sign notifying trucks to be careful of a steep decent in Monte Lake, BC was singed by fire. Willy Lowry / The National -
A home destroyed by fire in Monte Lake, BC. Willy Lowry / The National -
A blackened tree in British Columbia which was hit by several devastating forest fires this summer. Willy Lowry / The National -
A burned out car in Monte Lake, BC. Willy Lowry / The National -
A welcome to Lytton sign on the Trans Canada highway lets visitors no, the village is "Canada's hot spot." Willy Lowry / The National -
A fire break was installed high above Ashcroft, BC as a way to protect the village from wildfires. Willy Lowry / The National -
A fire break was installed high above Ashcroft, BC as a way to protect the village from wildfires. Willy Lowry / The National -
A road in Monte Lake, BC cuts through an area badly burned a fire this summer. Willy Lowry / The National
In September, The National spoke with Lytton mayor Jan Polderman in Kamloops, a two-hour drive from Lytton.
Mr Polderman said he understood the villagers' frustrations, but progress on rebuilding had been stalled by higher levels of government, which at the time were still assessing the safety of the area.
He also said that the infrastructure required much work.
“All the foundations need to be removed,” Mr Polderman said. “Before we go back in, there is a hazard assessment that needs to get done, hazard mitigation and survey and reference points need to be re-established.”
He said he hoped to start rebuilding within a year and expected construction to last another year.
All the uncertainty has left Ms Loring-Kuhanga worried for the future of her once tight-knit community.
“Will we ever return back as one?” she asked. “Are people going to decide that it's too much to bear and not rebuild?”
Where there's heat
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is still investigating what caused the fire.
The exceptionally warm weather and dry conditions preceding it led to one of the most challenging wildfires seasons on record.
A 2019 report commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada found the country is warming at twice the rate of the global average.
In June, a heat dome settled over much of the Pacific North-West causing temperatures in British Columbia to reach record heights.
That same month, Lytton broke its own highest temperature on record, peaking at 49.6°C, hotter than it has ever been in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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A firefighter battles the Dixie Fire along Highway 89 in Lassen National Forest, California, the US. -
A wildfire in northeastern Minnesota, in the Superior National Forest, prompted several evacuations. -
Firefighters and volunteers try to extinguish a blaze in the village of Markati, near Athens, Greece. -
A helicopter makes a water drop as a wildfire burns in the village of Navalmoral, Spain. -
An Israeli mother and son watch as firefighters battle wildfires for the second day near Shoresh, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. -
A volunteer helps tackle a wildfire in the village of Siderina, south of Athens. -
A man carries water containers as he helps to douse hotspots in an area hit by a wildfire in El Bir village, Bejaia province, Algeria. -
Volunteers try to extinguish a wildfire burning in the village of Markati, near Athens, Greece. -
A local tries to extinguish a fire in Markati -
A resident walks along a charred forest area following a wildfire in the region of Chefchaouen in northern Morocco. -
A volunteer helps to extinquish a wildfire in the village of Navalmoral, Spain. -
An Israeli firefighting plane drops flame retardant above Kiryat Ye'arim near Jerusalem, Israel. -
An Israeli firefighter combats the fire near Kibbutz Tzuba, Israel. -
As a huge wildfire spread in Jerusalem, emergency teams evacuated residents. -
Charred trees remain following a wildfire in the region of Chefchaouen, northern Morocco. -
A Royal Moroccan Air Force Canadair plane douses a wildfire in the region of Chefchaouen, northern Morocco. -
Smoke rises as wildfires continue for a second day in Jerusalem. -
Cattle grazes in an open field covered by wildfire smoke along Arlington Road during the Dixie Fire near Taylorsville, California, US. -
A burnt area is seen following a wildfire near the Israeli Kibbutz of Tzuba on the outskirts of Jerusalem. -
Vehicles leave Kibbutz Tzuba as fire spreads in Jerusalem, Israel. -
Volunteers try to extinguish a wildfire in the village of Markati, near Athens, Greece. -
Blazes rage around houses during a wildfire that broke out in the area of Keratea, Greece. -
Police officers attend to a wildfire in the village of Markati, near Athens, Greece. -
Volunteers help firefighters in Markati. -
A man takes a photo of the newly ignited Mount Law wildfire in Canada. -
Smoke bellows from wildfire in the mountains near the Piva lake, northwest Montenegro. -
Crews arrive at the scene where a Be-200 firefighting plane linked to Turkey's General Directorate of Forestry crashed in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. -
A firefighting helicopter flies in front of the sun which is shrouded in thick wildfire smoke near Lakeview, Oregon. -
Rescue teams rush to the scene of wildfires sweeping through forests in the region of Chefchaouen in northern Morocco. -
A woman stands on a mountainous side road with her belongings as wildfires spread across Morocco. -
Morocco joins several other Mediterranean countries that have seen forest fires in recent weeks, including neighbouring Algeria. -
Moroccans have been sweltering in temperatures of up to 49 degrees Celsius, according to weather authorities. -
People run away as smoke billows from fires that destroyed some 200 hectares of forest in Chefchaouen, northern Morocco. -
A pyrocumulus cloud, also known as a fire cloud, rises in the mountains above Lytton, British Columbia, Canada. -
The remains of a large structure and vehicles destroyed by the Lytton Creek wildfire are seen on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway near Lytton, British Columbia. -
Firefighters operate at the site of a wildfire between Navalacruz and Riofrio near Avila, central Spain. -
Goats wander through the abandoned, unburned streets looking for food after all residents were evacuated in Greenville, California. -
A couple view the newly ignited Mount Law wildfire, near Peachland and Glenrosa on the west side of Okanagan Lake, from the waterfront in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. -
A wildfire between Navalacruz and Riofrio in Spain is extinguished.
The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System says the number of forest fires this summer was well above the 10-year average. The fires covered 4,182,542 hectares, just under twice the 10-year average.
British Columbia was especially badly hit. During this fire season, which started in April and runs to the end of October, there have been 1,614 fires recorded throughout the province, burning 868,186ha of land.
“When you have that hot weather paired with very dry fuel, add wind to that and it can make those fires very unpredictable and burn in really severe intensities, which can be challenging,” said Erika Berg, a BC wildfire information officer.
Mike Flannigan, research chair in Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, BC, said it was concerning that the three biggest wildfire seasons recorded since 1950 have been in the past five years.
“Three or four decades ago, you'd see one or two challenging years in a decade," Mr Flannigan told The National.
"Now we're seeing three or four and in the coming decades it's going to be five or six. And some of those challenging years will be exceedingly challenging.”
Holding their feet to the fire
The people of Lytton increasingly frustrated with their elected leader's response to the community's needs and seriousness about climate change.
Their British Columbian neighbours to the east in Vernon, in the Okanagan Valley, are also showing growing concern. Both towns are a little less than six hours' drive from Washington state.
Mary Stockdale of Vernon, whose son is a firefighter and brother a fire researcher, said that she always thought her town of 40,000, with its three lakes and lush greenery, was insulated from the dangers of fire.
That changed this summer when temperatures soared and forest fires engulfed parts of the town, which she hopes is a wake-up call for both the government and fellow Canadians to take the consequences of climate change more seriously.
“It's a balance of personal individual change and system change,” said Ms Stockdale, who is an adjunct professor in culture and global studies at the University of British Columbia.
“It's about how we vote, how we engage democratically in our municipal, provincial and national levels of government, and in changing the system to make it easier to not emit so much.”
Newly re-elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to expedite a goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and made other climate-friendly pledges while on the campaign trail.
To address the increase in wildfires, Mr Trudeau promised a $500 million investment to train 1,000 more firefighters across the country, and grant programmes for homeowners to assess and prepare their houses for extreme weather.
Ms Stockdale now keeps several duffle bags filled with clothes and documents packed and ready at her front door … just in case.
