Lytton British Columbia - A forest fire that began as early 17 Jun 2021, seven kilometres south of Lytton, may be responsible for destroying 90 percent of this town located in the Fraser Canyon.
 
More than a 1,000 residents were forced to flee the town with news reports stating their were two deaths.
 
RCMP say details about conditions in the village are scant because it's not safe to enter the area, but aerial photos show that numerous buildings and vehicles have been destroyed.
 
They say they'll begin searching for missing or injured people on the ground as soon as it's safe to do so.
 
The Lytton Creek wildfire that burned the village was still listed as out of control on Friday morning, 2 Jul 2021, and was about 64 square kilometres in size.
 
Both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railway tracks pass through the area while CN's bridge over the Thompson River has been damaged sufficiently to stop any further traffic across it until repaired.
 
Currently there's no report whether Canadian Pacific's rail line is still functional but an aerial photo indicates it may be intact.

An aerial photo of Lytton with CN track on the left, CP to the right. The Trans-Canada Highway lies to the far right. CN's burned bridge is located behind and beneath the Highway 12 bridge at the top of the photo - 1 Jul 2021 Darryl Dyck *1.

CN appears to be setting up an emergency command centre in Boston Bar.
 
The railway company says it is offering its "full assistance to help authorities identify the causes of this tragic incident."
 
CN's response follows speculation that a passing CN train may have sparked the Lytton fire.
 
Speaking to Global News on Friday afternoon, former Lytton mayor Chris O'Connor said, in his mind there's no doubt the fire was started by a train going through the area.
 
"Between CN and CP and the federal and provincial government, I mean, in our community we've got this ribbon of steel that runs through our community that basically is the anchor for the Canadian economy," he said.
 
He said he would watch 30 trains go by every day just from the deck of his former house.
 
Austin said he is almost certain a train started the fire.