‘Smiles, hugs, tears:’ Volunteers at site of Lytton wildfire retrieving mementos, valuables from wreckage

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LYTTON (NEWS 1130) — An urn holding the remains of one man’s late wife, soapstone carvings passed down through generations, a wedding ring, military service medals. Volunteers sifting through the ash and rubble where homes on the Lytton First Nation once stood are recovering treasured mementos, and reuniting them with their owners.

Team Rubicon Canada arrived in the area about two weeks after the Village of Lytton and the neighbouring First Nation were devastated by a wildfire. The group, founded in 2016, is made up of retired or current military members and first responders from across the country.

Team lead Mark Eckley says members come from all different backgrounds, all driven by the desire to serve.

“We’re developing a very strong organization of volunteers — and we’re all volunteers — who are willing to pack up and go and help a community if and whenever they can,” he explains.

“By and large, it’s just people who’ve always been in this kind of field, who’ve always been driven by the need to help others.”

RELATED: Lytton evacuees get first look at devastation in fire-ravaged village

The team’s work is guided by the evacuees whose homes have been destroyed. Large pieces of debris are moved away first, and then the crew sifts through the ash.

“We normally have the resident on site with us and they will indicate to us, where his or her valuables were, and we’ll focus our efforts searching in there,” Eckley explains.

“It’s been quite an emotional response from them. We’ve had smiles, we’ve had hugs, we’ve had tears. They are all very grateful that the crew that we have in there is doing the work and finding the things for them. Every day we find something that’s unique and has its own touching story.”

For Eckley and the crew, one of the most emotional finds on this site came early in the effort.

“The first thing that we found was the gentleman’s wife’s urn,” he says.

“The tears of happiness that he had, that will always sit in my mind is one of the most successful things we’ve done. For some people, it’s the first time they’ve cried for a month and a half — now they’re they’re crying for happiness. It’s emotional for us as well it’s for them. It proves that we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.”

RELATED: Lytton wildfire evacuees learning village, most homes have burned down

Eckley says people find some comfort and relief in having something tangible to hold on to after so much loss.

“It’s their memento,” he says. “Often, it’s artifacts that are important to their family or their culture.”

The team has not been cleared to go into the Village of Lytton, but has already received some requests for help and plans to go in as soon as it’s safe. The non-profit is modelled on an American organization that was formed to respond to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in 2010. The Canadia team’s first operation was to the Fort MacMurray wildfire, sifting through the wreckage of 900 homes there to help people find things that matter to them.

Related video

Lytton bus tour takes evacuees through wildfire-ravaged village
A first look inside Lytton, as evacuees board a bus for a tour through the village. The emotional day comes as investigators look at whether a train sparked the fire.
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