Mayor of Lytton "The whole town is on fire"

[Big_Guy_Rye]

Since there seems to be a strong suspicion it may have been caused by a passing train,

Yeah, everyone has that suspicion, and they'd be wrong 9 times out of 10.....

And even the ONE time they were right, it wasn't by a train but another department was responsible. In 2015, there was a big fire on the far side of the river from Lytton that ate up a lot of acres. CN was responsible, but it was track maintainers who couldn't control their wielding and/or grinding and let embers float around into the bushes. Courts found CN responsible and had to pay $16 million; mostly going to the Crown because it happened just outside of the reservations and didn't damage their land as much.

Since then, it's become a 'meme' to blame the railway for all the fires that happen in the Interior. Especially during the Elephant Hill fires around the Ashcroft and Cache Creek area. In fact there was an online campaign to blame the railway, going as far as LIE about the origins of the fire; saying it was sparks from the train that caused it. When in fact the fire came from the top of the hills (away from the rails) and moved downward toward the river where the rails lay, not the other way around. After numerous investigations, they discovered the true cause of the fire was a cigarette butt from a trailer park, on reservation land, of the very tribe that wanted to blame the railway in the first place.

And I'm seeing the same thing currently with Lytton.... and so far these "witnesses" either didn't understand what they saw, or they are lying hoping for a better payout. Those witnesses "claimed" they saw a train use it's air-brakes...I'll dispel that right now...(coming from a "foamer-friend" who knows about these things; *nudge*)

First off, CN and CP share their tracks to help the flow of traffic coming in and out of Vancouver better. All southbound traffic is handled by CN, while Northbound traffic is handled by CP. So going south on the CN side towards Vancouver, track speed through the area is 25mph, a bit above driving through a school zone. And the grade of the hills in the area is gradual, almost flat. Where would it make sense to use a train-brake on the entire train, going that slow? When all you really need to do is throttle off and the whole thing would drop like a rock.....that's the CN track along the outside of the village, away from the initial source of the fire which some said happened on the southeast side of town, closer to the CP track,...but.....

On the CP side, all train traffic goes northward toward Kamloops, so the trains coming up from Vancouver and through Boston Bar to Lytton is one big gradual hill upwards. Again, why would anyone use a brake to stop going uphill? 10,000+ tons of weight being dragged uphill, and they had to take a brake to stop? First off you're not even going at track speed in the first place! People making such accusations were definitely not physics majors, not that you'd have to be to know how trains operate.

Now I'm not saying it's impossible that a train caused this. At the end of this all, we are talking 'metal on metal' anyways; sparks do happen. But what I am saying is that a multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporation is an easy target in times like this, and pays a lot more than any government relief package would. And if everyone is jumping on the 'meme' of "oh oh oh I saw a train use it's brakes! I was actually close enough to see the brake pads push against the wheel and saw the sparks shoot everywhere!".....yeah, I call bullshit....


FUN FACT:...there were numerous forest fires in the immediate region of Lytton weeks prior to this disaster, far from the rails; but within the town's limits. CP's tracks were barely damaged upon first inspection (according to my "foamer-friend") which could imply that the rails were not the source of the fire that destroyed the town.....

 

[sybian]

Yeah, everyone has that suspicion, and they'd be wrong 9 times out of 10.....

And even the ONE time they were right, it wasn't by a train but another department was responsible. In 2015, there was a big fire on the far side of the river from Lytton that ate up a lot of acres. CN was responsible, but it was track maintainers who couldn't control their wielding and/or grinding and let embers float around into the bushes. Courts found CN responsible and had to pay $16 million; mostly going to the Crown because it happened just outside of the reservations and didn't damage their land as much.

Since then, it's become a 'meme' to blame the railway for all the fires that happen in the Interior. Especially during the Elephant Hill fires around the Ashcroft and Cache Creek area. In fact there was an online campaign to blame the railway, going as far as LIE about the origins of the fire; saying it was sparks from the train that caused it. When in fact the fire came from the top of the hills (away from the rails) and moved downward toward the river where the rails lay, not the other way around. After numerous investigations, they discovered the true cause of the fire was a cigarette butt from a trailer park, on reservation land, of the very tribe that wanted to blame the railway in the first place.

And I'm seeing the same thing currently with Lytton.... and so far these "witnesses" either didn't understand what they saw, or they are lying hoping for a better payout. Those witnesses "claimed" they saw a train use it's air-brakes...I'll dispel that right now...(coming from a "foamer-friend" who knows about these things; *nudge*)

First off, CN and CP share their tracks to help the flow of traffic coming in and out of Vancouver better. All southbound traffic is handled by CN, while Northbound traffic is handled by CP. So going south on the CN side towards Vancouver, track speed through the area is 25mph, a bit above driving through a school zone. And the grade of the hills in the area is gradual, almost flat. Where would it make sense to use a train-brake on the entire train, going that slow? When all you really need to do is throttle off and the whole thing would drop like a rock.....that's the CN track along the outside of the village, away from the initial source of the fire which some said happened on the southeast side of town, closer to the CP track,...but.....

On the CP side, all train traffic goes northward toward Kamloops, so the trains coming up from Vancouver and through Boston Bar to Lytton is one big gradual hill upwards. Again, why would anyone use a brake to stop going uphill? 10,000+ tons of weight being dragged uphill, and they had to take a brake to stop? First off you're not even going at track speed in the first place! People making such accusations were definitely not physics majors, not that you'd have to be to know how trains operate.

Now I'm not saying it's impossible that a train caused this. At the end of this all, we are talking 'metal on metal' anyways; sparks do happen. But what I am saying is that a multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporation is an easy target in times like this, and pays a lot more than any government relief package would. And if everyone is jumping on the 'meme' of "oh oh oh I saw a train use it's brakes! I was actually close enough to see the brake pads push against the wheel and saw the sparks shoot everywhere!".....yeah, I call bullshit....


FUN FACT:...there were numerous forest fires in the immediate region of Lytton weeks prior to this disaster, far from the rails; but within the town's limits. CP's tracks were barely damaged upon first inspection (according to my "foamer-friend") which could imply that the rails were not the source of the fire that destroyed the town.....

Absolutely accurate post…..except for one small point.
The Elephant hill was NOT caused by a cigarette butt tossed into dry grass…..it was caused by a “ spirit fire” that was lit for a second time by that band.
Forestry deployed a Helicopter the day before, and extinguished the first fire, giving a stern warning….a second fire was lit next to a dry grass field the next day……and witnessed by 25 people, which very quickly turned into the Elephant Hill wildfire….originally labeled the Ashcroft Indian Reservation Fire.
The RCMP official report is absolute nonsense……and everyone here knows it…..there is even news footage with a reservation member admitting to lighting that fire……which has disappeared from existing
I personally know the Helo pilot on both flights to attend and respond too those “ spirit fires”

 

[Big_Guy_Rye]

The Elephant hill was NOT caused by a cigarette butt tossed into dry grass…..it was caused by a “ spirit fire” that was lit for a second time by that band.

To be honest I wasn't 100% sure what really did cause the Elephant Hill fire when I posted. Other than I knew, for an empirical fact, that it wasn't caused by the railway. Also the forensic investigation established they were not at fault either. But I did know the fire started on the reserve. So as wrote that post, I quickly looked up the old articles, and some were saying it was a cigarette butt, and it was only rumors that I heard at the time that it was some kind of ritual fire that got out of hand.

It all depends on which article you read, since some seem to want to keep that kind of negative press away from the First Nations people.....but obviously have no problem dog-shitting all over the railway on a whim, on the off-chance of a big pay day.

 

[sybian]

To be honest I wasn't 100% sure what really did cause the Elephant Hill fire when I posted. Other than I knew, for an empirical fact, that it wasn't caused by the railway. Also the forensic investigation established they were not at fault either. But I did know the fire started on the reserve. So as wrote that post, I quickly looked up the old articles, and some were saying it was a cigarette butt, and it was only rumors that I heard at the time that it was some kind of ritual fire that got out of hand.

It all depends on which article you read, since some seem to want to keep that kind of negative press away from the First Nations people.....but obviously have no problem dog-shitting all over the railway on a whim, on the off-chance of a big pay day.

You where absolutely right….the official report from the RCMP is a tossed, anonymous cigarette butt, and everyone here has heard the same.
What actually happened will never come to public view, for whatever political reasons….The rumours you’ve heard are very true, I know three separate credible witnesses, one of them employed by BC Wildfire, that saw the entire event….in separate locations, and all of them recite the EXACT same accounts.
There are at least another twenty people that I don’t know, that have exactly the very same story…….but those credible eyewitness accounts seemed to have escaped the investigation, and eluded the 500 million dollar price tag from damages caused by the Elephant Hill event.

 

[sybian]

To be honest I wasn't 100% sure what really did cause the Elephant Hill fire when I posted. Other than I knew, for an empirical fact, that it wasn't caused by the railway. Also the forensic investigation established they were not at fault either. But I did know the fire started on the reserve. So as wrote that post, I quickly looked up the old articles, and some were saying it was a cigarette butt, and it was only rumors that I heard at the time that it was some kind of ritual fire that got out of hand.

It all depends on which article you read, since some seem to want to keep that kind of negative press away from the First Nations people.....but obviously have no problem dog-shitting all over the railway on a whim, on the off-chance of a big pay day.

One more interesting fact….I attended a railway fire a few days before which had caused some finger pointing.
There in fact was a fire along the railway, that was put out twice…( the second and final time by my team) which was thought to have been a possible contributor to the EH fire.
That fire which I and my team attended, was across the River, and upwind by about 15 miles…..and never was very large to begin with…..and when I left it was out, with no chance of reigniting…..but it was a possible culprit, which resulted in my feet being held to a fire for awhile.
Local organizations, communities, and individuals where very quick to take financial handouts from the Railway ……which turns out never did start the EH fire, upon investigation.
Which incidentally….yours truly was dragged into, along with my impeccable record of putting out fires….and of course my record of going against direct orders , and problems with command……making my life a bit of a hell hole to live around for awhile.Which I suppose is my own fault for not being a team player, but whatever..

Everyone was quick to jump on the band wagon of blaming the railway, because as you’ve said…..That’s where the money is….as it turned out, they or myself was never to blame….which still pisses me off to this day.

 

[Uncled]

Two people died in the Lytton fire.

If I was responsible for starting that fire (accidentally or otherwise), I would not want that on my conscience.

 

[80watts]

In 15 to 20 minutes ?
when a wildfire consumes an entire town in that time, evacuating citizens comes first….the emergency infrastructure, equipment, and communications burn along with it.
I know from personal experience…..it’s kinda tough to drive a fire truck to fight a fire, when the vehicle itself is on fire, and the rest of the firefighting equipment in the town fire hall is burning…..gee maybe it would be a good idea to call 911 and inform someone?….but the phone lines are on fire, along with the only cell tower for 30 miles…but that’s ok because the 10 mile high smoke cloud that can be seen for miles ,should alert someone.
If there happened to be a water bomber in the air over the town at that very moment, loaded with water, and he dropped his load….he would knock down anyone in that waters path that was fleeing for their lives.
But he would be going against direct orders, and endangering lives due to wetting down live power lines that possibly would be on the ground in direct escape paths.
He could be creating a perfect death trap, as people would be ….by natural instinct..drawn in panic towards large damp areas, and electrocuted on contact.
It takes time to cut power to even a small village.

Even a single water Helo can’t make it from Fire command in that time, to drop the first bucket of water…..people just ran for their lives, I know of several found in towns over an hour away, no ID, and not sure what had really happened.
Even if you wanted to register in the evacuation centre, and receive help, you needed to get to Kamloops, over an hour away…..which by the way ,was on fire and partially evacuating itself a few days after.

The massive safety net large cities have, and what many are used too…..is simply not available to small towns or villages.
Any emergency equipment is located within the town itself….which burned to the ground in minutes.

I get what you are saying, but this "pack up and run" idea of handling wildfires when an fire approaches an town seem to me outmoded. I understand that there are many variables that could lead up to the "pack up and run". It's as fast as the wind blows at treetop level. But this "pack and run" is the cheapest option.

Considering where Lytton is in BC. Its on the #1 and #12 hwy -one of the only 3 ways to northern Bc from Vancouver (#1 and #5, and #99 for anything west of Kamloops). It is on a circle on the interior side of the coastal mountains of Lillooet, Cache Creek and Lytton. You would figure the Emergency response would need to protect these 3 sites because of hwy access (intersection of hwys). Considering the last 5 years have been smoke filled ones with lots of forest fires. And climate change just seems to keep heating up the world.
Also with the record temperature set in Lytton prior to the fire on the 27 and 28 june, its not surprising that there was a fire.

Lytton is at the conjunction of 2 rivers. So water should never be a problem.

Were there firebreaks? How large is it; 50 m, 100 m? And the forest beyond that firebreak, was it thinned down (selective harvested)? how far 50 m, 100m, or 300 m?? A thick forest cover only helps spread the tree top fires when wind is involved.

Were the interior buildings in Lytton that housed equipment protected from fire? An fire proof building (cement with thick walls), with misters (or sprinklers for the roof and sides of building) to protect the building and needed equipment inside. Did the town have a protected core of the town??

Did the town have fire hydrants and pumps that could work during a fire?

A cell tower in such a position should also be protected, considering how they are mostly placed in high areas. So in reality they should be above the fire, even at tree top level.

Ever since Ft McMurray burnt to the ground, you would think that towns would try to protect themselves by any means necessary. Especially if the routes from to and to Lytton are important for transportation. What about at the provincial level?

How about watering a few acres of forest around a town, when it gets over 35 C.

Houses next to a forest have to have misters; when you are the outer ring of the town....

How about houses built in the wilderness have to have fire breaks, thinned forests and a 2-3 day supply of water for misting a house or building in case fire overruns an area.

A mister system could consist of a generator, an air compressor, battery bank to start compressor and alternator to charge batteries. Pressure switch to start generator, which will start compressor which would charge an air bottle for atomizing water into droplets at a sprinkler head. The sprinkler heads cover the outer portion of a building. A tank big enough to hold water for 2-3 days of misting the building.

yeah i'm dreaming but if people put more into looking after their shelter.... well I know this will fall on death ears.....

The firebreak and thinning of the forest, all they do is play for time, which should give a town better than 15-20 min to evacuate or get to the inner defenses if any are set up.

 

[Big_Guy_Rye]

Two people died in the Lytton fire.

If I was responsible for starting that fire (accidentally or otherwise), I would not want that on my conscience.

Railway companies have no conscious.

2 people died? As tragic as that is, corporate lawyers will do everything possible to exonerate themselves from liability.....and they are VERY good at it....

 

[Mishababy]

My mom lives near there and had to evacuate! She’s staying with me right now so I had to cancel all my incall this weekend and I felt so bad but family first! It’s terrifying how much our climate has changed to where forest fires are so more abundant than before! Beginning of the apocalypse shit.

 

[Mishababy]

I noticed alot of houses burning compared to the grass/trees. Wonder if people forgot to turn off stuff in their house?? It is usually not something people think of when they are in a rush to get out.
Emergency Preparedness....

It happened way too quickly to do anything but evacuate

 

[Mishababy]

There should be a go fund them page created many in small towns don't have insurance sometimes in smaller towns and they are left with nothing they truly need help at this time

Yeah my mom had to evacuate and she doesn’t have insurance

 

[masterblaster]

Railway companies have no conscious.

2 people died? As tragic as that is, corporate lawyers will do everything possible to exonerate themselves from liability.....and they are VERY good at it....

read in the news today the fire was most likely human caused, possibly started within the village.itself.

 

[Big_Guy_Rye]

read in the news today the fire was most likely human caused, possibly started within the village.itself.

Yeah just read about it.

 

[Mrmotorscooter]

Yeah my mom had to evacuate and she doesn’t have insurance

This is a good one, it started trying to raise 100,000 and people kept donating to well over 300,000 so now it was raised to 1,000,000. That’s awesome Lytton was a wonderful little town with kind and helpful people living there, I sure hope they meet this new target! Never pay the suggested commission recommendation on the go fund me, it has a custom amount available, I don’t mind donating a few bucks to that but 10-15% is an insane money grab!
https://ca.gofundme.com/f/lytton-first-nation-community-emergency-support

 

[sybian]

I get what you are saying, but this "pack up and run" idea of handling wildfires when an fire approaches an town seem to me outmoded. I understand that there are many variables that could lead up to the "pack up and run". It's as fast as the wind blows at treetop level. But this "pack and run" is the cheapest option.

Considering where Lytton is in BC. Its on the #1 and #12 hwy -one of the only 3 ways to northern Bc from Vancouver (#1 and #5, and #99 for anything west of Kamloops). It is on a circle on the interior side of the coastal mountains of Lillooet, Cache Creek and Lytton. You would figure the Emergency response would need to protect these 3 sites because of hwy access (intersection of hwys). Considering the last 5 years have been smoke filled ones with lots of forest fires. And climate change just seems to keep heating up the world.
Also with the record temperature set in Lytton prior to the fire on the 27 and 28 june, its not surprising that there was a fire.

Lytton is at the conjunction of 2 rivers. So water should never be a problem.

Were there firebreaks? How large is it; 50 m, 100 m? And the forest beyond that firebreak, was it thinned down (selective harvested)? how far 50 m, 100m, or 300 m?? A thick forest cover only helps spread the tree top fires when wind is involved.

Were the interior buildings in Lytton that housed equipment protected from fire? An fire proof building (cement with thick walls), with misters (or sprinklers for the roof and sides of building) to protect the building and needed equipment inside. Did the town have a protected core of the town??

Did the town have fire hydrants and pumps that could work during a fire?

A cell tower in such a position should also be protected, considering how they are mostly placed in high areas. So in reality they should be above the fire, even at tree top level.

Ever since Ft McMurray burnt to the ground, you would think that towns would try to protect themselves by any means necessary. Especially if the routes from to and to Lytton are important for transportation. What about at the provincial level?

How about watering a few acres of forest around a town, when it gets over 35 C.

Houses next to a forest have to have misters; when you are the outer ring of the town....

How about houses built in the wilderness have to have fire breaks, thinned forests and a 2-3 day supply of water for misting a house or building in case fire overruns an area.

A mister system could consist of a generator, an air compressor, battery bank to start compressor and alternator to charge batteries. Pressure switch to start generator, which will start compressor which would charge an air bottle for atomizing water into droplets at a sprinkler head. The sprinkler heads cover the outer portion of a building. A tank big enough to hold water for 2-3 days of misting the building.

yeah i'm dreaming but if people put more into looking after their shelter.... well I know this will fall on death ears.....

The firebreak and thinning of the forest, all they do is play for time, which should give a town better than 15-20 min to evacuate or get to the inner defenses if any are set up.

All interior towns in the rain shadow regions have programs to thin the fuel in the cooler months, reducing the consumable “Duff” or dry forest floor….it’s a program that has been implemented for over a decade.
Lytton is a historic town mostly constructed of wood, and is tinder dry, the emergency equipment couldn’t be enabled due to all the operators in town ….where running for their lives.
Firebreaks are a good idea, like installing concrete or steel panel fencing throughout town, or between structures, but most people try to avoid prison-like landscaping….which is why everyone on the coast puts in those highly flammable cedar hedges between their vinyl clad wood houses……but let’s say we did that….let’s say we install steel fire breaks at 1/2 the height of a house, making them 12 foot to slow a wildfire.
There is no way of predicting wildfires, so if you can’t climb a steel clad fence, they become a death trap , not allowing egress from the compound….so you’d have to install doors, and doors on solid steel fencing, that you can’t see through, get left open for breeze and access.
Then there is the cost…..in a town of maybe a few thousand people, for the kind of infrastructure your talking about would be millions…..there isn’t the money.
So the funding for every town to have fire stability that your presenting would be hundreds of millions…..coming from our tax dollars, and having the population of most tax payers on the lower mainland, how would vancouverites feel about paying millions to every little town in the interior, to fireproof them…..most would resent it, as it’s not their problem.
Most fire savvy people have permanent sprinklers mounted on the gables of their homes here….but it takes more than 15 minutes to make them affective, creating a vapour barrier to protect the structure....if you even have the chance to turn them on.
In the case of Lytton, misters would have been ineffective, to protect any structure fire, unless of course they had been on for the week before…..There is the River water that you mentioned, but pumping water to wet down entire towns all summer, in a semi arid environment is costly, and infrastructure like that is costly, and rather corrosive to wood structures over time, and would eventually erode a glacial till ground system, that is fragile to begin with…..If you wet down three or five interior towns all summer, I’m sure the ministry of agriculture, and ministry of forests, would have something to say about the millions of gallons a month being evaporated into the atmosphere by redirecting a necessary, and shared natural resource.
On another note, fire command is based in Williams Lake or Kamloops, a 15 minute flight…..but you can’t go just water bomb a town with live power lines, and possible injuries…..it’s not that simple.Aircraft is used in unpopulated or evacuated areas, that have tight control, so there’s no loss of life….a Lear Spotter is sent in and sounds his alarm on two passes, warning everyone that tonnes of water is about to drop on top of that general area, then the blanket attack begins, followed by bucket helicopters to pinpoint smaller ignition, quickly followed by ground crews and heavy equipment, all the while supported by aircraft…...There is a protocol, there is a system, and it may need improvement, but it’s designed to minimize loss of life first, then loss of property.
Its a multi million dollar fire slayer, and it’s what we have to react…unfortunately when a fire breaks out….We know there will always be wildfires, but we never know where they will be, so it must be mobile, efficient,and adaptable.

Your thoughts may be well intended……but not realistic.

 

[masterpoonhunter]

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=4fc60d804cd64d4aa13e6ae3733abef1

A few years ago we had one of those big wildfire seasons including a fire on Dog Mountain over Sproat Lake. That one was pretty sad as the Coulson flying tankers were sitting unused. Apparently Coulson noted one of the planes could have been in the air in a couple hours and probably one maybe two payloads would have doused that fire. Problem was 'who pays?' Every season I think so would a fleet of water bombers help. I mean a fleet of them, stationed in each of the fire zones, on the ready. Just like we see in the US at most of their airports with their military at the ready against I guess Chinese or Iranian fighter jets. Except the threat of fires is very real and is consistent.

I found the link above which is a pretty intensive study of climate related to the various zones, population, some economics etc. Note this does not comment on some of the boots on the ground discussion in this thread but does outline how water bombers could be deployed.

I am thinking that as we move forward, with climate change a very real thing, summer temperatures increasing (ground temperatures of 56C are damn scary), the hot and dry season lasting longer, BC should be moving the entire plan of wild fires well up in the agenda. Create emergency processes for every fire zone and have a lot more equipment ready.

 

[licks2nite]

City housing prices forcing inexperienced people into fire zones. Chaos of a global population exploitation.

 

[wetnose]

The problem of populations living in wildfire prone towns may eventually solve itself through the free market - a lot of insurers may just decide not to sell any insurance in those towns since the risk of loss may be too high. If people can't get insured, then they can't renew their mortgage. Or new home buyers will not be able to find an insurance company willing to insure the home. Or yearly premiums will just be too high.

This is what happened in California, in the aftermath of the 2018 wildfires:

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article232575652.html

Alternatively, government may mandate a whole new set of building codes tailored for wildfire prone areas - shotcrete siding, standing seam roofing, cement/brick construction, no wood decks/sheds, 50 feet of spacing between neighbours, no landscaping, 300m from any wooded area, underground power lines, etc.

 

[licks2nite]

Bunkers, cool in summer, efficient to heat, fire proof. Patio and carport on top. Pay cash, insure yourself. As much landscape as you like.

 

[80watts]

All interior towns in the rain shadow regions have programs to thin the fuel in the cooler months, reducing the consumable “Duff” or dry forest floor….it’s a program that has been implemented for over a decade.
Lytton is a historic town mostly constructed of wood, and is tinder dry, the emergency equipment couldn’t be enabled due to all the operators in town ….where running for their lives.
Firebreaks are a good idea, like installing concrete or steel panel fencing throughout town, or between structures, but most people try to avoid prison-like landscaping….which is why everyone on the coast puts in those highly flammable cedar hedges between their vinyl clad wood houses……but let’s say we did that….let’s say we install steel fire breaks at 1/2 the height of a house, making them 12 foot to slow a wildfire.
There is no way of predicting wildfires, so if you can’t climb a steel clad fence, they become a death trap , not allowing egress from the compound….so you’d have to install doors, and doors on solid steel fencing, that you can’t see through, get left open for breeze and access.
Then there is the cost…..in a town of maybe a few thousand people, for the kind of infrastructure your talking about would be millions…..there isn’t the money.
So the funding for every town to have fire stability that your presenting would be hundreds of millions…..coming from our tax dollars, and having the population of most tax payers on the lower mainland, how would vancouverites feel about paying millions to every little town in the interior, to fireproof them…..most would resent it, as it’s not their problem.
Most fire savvy people have permanent sprinklers mounted on the gables of their homes here….but it takes more than 15 minutes to make them affective, creating a vapour barrier to protect the structure....if you even have the chance to turn them on.
In the case of Lytton, misters would have been ineffective, to protect any structure fire, unless of course they had been on for the week before…..There is the River water that you mentioned, but pumping water to wet down entire towns all summer, in a semi arid environment is costly, and infrastructure like that is costly, and rather corrosive to wood structures over time, and would eventually erode a glacial till ground system, that is fragile to begin with…..If you wet down three or five interior towns all summer, I’m sure the ministry of agriculture, and ministry of forests, would have something to say about the millions of gallons a month being evaporated into the atmosphere by redirecting a necessary, and shared natural resource.
On another note, fire command is based in Williams Lake or Kamloops, a 15 minute flight…..but you can’t go just water bomb a town with live power lines, and possible injuries…..it’s not that simple.Aircraft is used in unpopulated or evacuated areas, that have tight control, so there’s no loss of life….a Lear Spotter is sent in and sounds his alarm on two passes, warning everyone that tonnes of water is about to drop on top of that general area, then the blanket attack begins, followed by bucket helicopters to pinpoint smaller ignition, quickly followed by ground crews and heavy equipment, all the while supported by aircraft…...There is a protocol, there is a system, and it may need improvement, but it’s designed to minimize loss of life first, then loss of property.
Its a multi million dollar fire slayer, and it’s what we have to react…unfortunately when a fire breaks out….We know there will always be wildfires, but we never know where they will be, so it must be mobile, efficient,and adaptable.

Your thoughts may be well intended……but not realistic.

You know hindsight is 20/20.
There is a difference between a house fire and an wildfire. The fire is stopped by eliminating one of the following:
A tetrahedron can be described as a pyramid which is a solid having four plane faces. Essentially all four elements must be present for fire to occur, fuel, heat, oxygen, and a chemical chain reaction. ... Each of the four sides of the fire tetrahedron symbolise the Fuel, Heat, Oxygen and Chemical Chain Reaction.

Communities should always have a plan for fires, everyone should know it. But it seems that the only plan is to rush where the fire is and if certain designated people are not able to do that than the town is fucked. Most people in the town depend on other people to fight the fire. This seems to be a prevailing attitude, it should change. There is reason to believe that the fire started in town. So I now understand the lack of warning, and the panic that ensued because of the closeness of the fire. But it doesn't mean the personnel couldn't of reacted better, was an attempt even made at controlling the fire.. If the decision was the town was too dry, then something should of been done about it before it became too dry .....Same old thinking....

My aim was at fires approaching an town.
Firebreaks are not just steel fences and such. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firebreak
A fire break can be a road, or even an open field with no fuel, or even green grass of an soccer field. The deeper it is, the more protection it can provide given wind conditions. And the community can achieve a firebreak, by effort (done by community days or whatever but the people of the town help out), and not by taxes. The firebreak eliminates the fuel.

Also most houses are built to withstand rain, which is what a sprinkler or a demister would put on a house. If people still are putting wood on the exterior of houses they should look at other materials like cement board. All a demister would do is put water droplets into the air at 5 or 10 min intervals, cooling the air and wetting the surface of a building. Sprinklers would use too much water. Also when the temperature reaches 35C, demisters could be used to cool building and areas around a town. Or a town could implement more watering of the town grass area/trees etc. An demisters (atomized water droplets- done mechanically or by air) eliminate the high heat in the area used. So Lytton made record heat temperatures at 47 C.

Also water taken from a watershed area and used in that area, some of that water returns to the watershed area. So sprinkling the area around a town and by its firebreak can provide some protection. This is cooling the area down, eliminating the heat.

The problem with losing Lytton, was everything and plans was on a status-quo. (oh we done this is the past---- its good enough for now...) Well its not.
With the increase in temperatures and the increase in fires in the last 5 years, towns and cities have to be more prepared. (climate change)

They have to be proactive and make large fire breaks, ensure housing on the outer ring have demisters or sprinklers for the roof tops, the larger the town, it should have several rings of protection available, When the temp gets over a certain temp (like 35C) turn on sprinklers/demisters to cools buildings. Add a demister system to new builds, make it code for places prone to forest fires or along perimeter of towns/cities. Make it part of insurance coverage.
Look at those water parks that people rush to on hot days. If you need to cool off, so do the buildings and greenery around you.
ref: Kamloops Fire Chief https://nationalpost.com/news/b-c-wildfires
Another solution would be to have well watered trees in the defenses. They give off moisture in the leaves. Look at any big city now, they are trying to put more trees in to help with cooling etc.

Sybian I am offering solutions not excuses.

Also what do firefighter do before entering a building fire. Before and after they open a door they shot a shot blast of water into the air (at ceiling or door). Any fire/heat is taken down by the water droplets, cooling and protecting the fire team. In this way they protect themselves and conserve water, crawl under the thermal layer and get to the base of the fire, without causing serve water damage to an house (not like going full blast when entering a house and taking 5 min to find base of fire, meanwhile stll blasting away on full stream).