On June 30, 2021, a wildfire tore through the Village of Lytton and the Lytton First Nation destroying over 200 properties. Most of these properties included either residential or commercial buildings that for the most part were burned to the ground with virtually no standing remnants. In the early days following the fires, when it was safe to re-enter Lytton, some broad environmental sampling was completed on the properties. For the sake of time, it was decided that moving forward with remediation of the communities was the most important activity and that an extensive pre-remediation sampling and reporting program was not feasible. An accelerated sampling program followed closely by remediation activities was adopted.

The presentation discusses the circumstances leading to the decisions above as well as highlighting the process that was followed to remediate the properties to a state that rebuilding has begun. As the Prime Contractor for the site, remediation processes included final property review by owners to ensure all salvageable items were accounted for; sign off approval to remediate from property owners; cutting and capping of water and sewer lines to every property; abatement and disposal of asbestos containing burned building materials; abatement and recycling of burned metal materials; concrete foundation abatement and recycling; excavation and disposal of waste and hazardous waste soil types; stabilization and disposal of hazardous waste soil and building materials; backfilling and compaction of properties to meet geotechnical requirements.

Throughout the remediation, Matcon assisted the crew of onsite archeologists to power screen most of the disturbed soils from within Lytton as the area in and around Lytton is a highly sensitive archeological site. Matcon also engaged local First Nations groups including the Lytton First Nation, Bonaparte First Nation, and Bridge River First Nation in utilizing labour, equipment, and trucking during the remediation activities. Matcon now has a long-term partnership with the Lytton First Nation working on numerous other Recovery Projects in the region.

Presentation to include discussion on lessons learned throughout the remediation project.