Elected officials will be meeting with people from Westwold and Monte Lake tonight, to try and find a path forward after the White Rock Lake fire.

Thompson-Nicola Regional District board chair Ken Gillis says he and Todd Stone will be part of an open meeting at the Westwold Community Hall, tonight at 7 p.m.

“It’ll be a productive meeting. It’s certainly not one that’s going to look back on who made mistakes or whatever. We’re looking forward on learning how we can help, and what level of government is in the best position to provide each type of help. And I’m anxious to learn about that.”

This meeting comes several days after Gillis and other delegates toured through Monte Lake and Paxton Valley, over the weekend.

“I saw utter devastation,” Gillis said. “We went up the Paxton Valley Road too, and saw the same sort of thing up there as you see driving through on Highway 97. This fire just went from home to home, and from ranch to ranch, and brought devastation upon all of them. I can’t describe it any other way than to say it was sickening. You’re looking at something that was once a home and is now just a chimney and some twisted metal… God knows how distraught they must be.”

There were 29 structures in Monte Lake and Paxton Valley destroyed by the fire on August 5, including 28 homes and one business.

Meanwhile, the White Rock Lake fire continued its destructive path on Sunday night, destroying about 70 homes on the west side of Okanagan Lake in Killiney Beach and Ewing’s Landing, and about 10 others on the Okanagan Indian Band.

The fire had also destroyed six homes near Bouleau Lake days earlier, also in the Central Okanagan.