The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is set to release the details of its investigation into the cause of the Lytton B.C. wildfire and the possible involvement of a train.
The TSB will release the details Thursday, Oct. 14, at 10 a.m. PST.
This story will be updated following the release of the report.
The wildfire that sparked on June 30 burned about 90 per cent of the community of Lytton, in southern B.C.
Two people were killed in the massive blaze.
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100 days after wildfire razed Lytton, B.C., still-scattered residents feel ‘frustrated, isolated’
The Lytton First Nation and Thompson-Nicola Regional District have both suggested the possibility that a train was responsible for the fire, and several witnesses have described seeing train fires in the area of Lytton ahead of the tragic incident.
Ryan Marander told Global News he saw a train on fire at Lytton between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. the day the community burned.
“We saw a train up on a trestle, which was kind of in between the freeway and Lytton, and the train was stopped and underneath one of the flat deck cars, which looked like it was carrying wrapped lumber, we saw fire underneath one of the cars — looked to be maybe four feet in diameter or something at the base,” he said.
Another witness called 911 when he saw a southbound train on fire about 44 kilometres south of Lytton the same afternoon, just outside Boston Bar.
Read more:
TSB deploys team to Lytton to probe ‘fire potentially involving a freight train’
Both CN Rail and CP Rail pledged to cooperate with any investigation into the fire, and pledged financial support for Lytton residents.
CN promised $1.5 million while CP Rail, which also runs through Lytton, pledged $1 million.
Residents of Lytton remain scattered in hotels, with family, or in the handful of homes still standing in the community.
A timeline or exact details of when residents can begin to return is still unclear at this time.
More to come.
With files from Simon Little and Elizabeth McSheffrey