The Thompson-Nicola Regional District is slowly getting a clearer picture of the damage to area properties due to this summer’s wildfires.

It says there have been 53 primary homes, 27 seasonal homes and seven commercial properties damaged or destroyed by three of the big wildfires in the regional district – the Lytton Creek, Sparks Lake, and White Rock Lake fires. There have been other structures lost in the North and Central Okanagan, outside of TNRD boundaries.

TNRD spokesperson Andrew Roebbelen told NL News it will take some time to recover from the 2021 fire season.

“As that wraps up, then we’ll be moving more into the resiliency and the recovery phases,” he said. “That’s going to be where a lot of the work is going to have to be over the next year, even two years, as people and communities rebuild.”

Roebbelen says there were only accessory buildings that were reportedly lost in the Tremont Creek fire so far, though he notes there was significant damage of another kind.

“Although the fire moved through unoccupied lands, those lands are very important to our ranchers,” he added. “Those are grazing lands so there is a different kind of loss there.”

Not counting the village of Lytton, there have 10 homes, one seasonal property, and five commercial structures impacted by the Lytton Creek Fire. Eleven homes were impacted by the Sparks Lake Fire along with 24 seasonal properties, while the White Rock Lake Fire damaged 32 homes, two seasonal properties, and two commercial structures.

Earlier this month, Roebbelen told NL News there were 29 properties in Monte Lake and Paxton Valley that were destroyed or heavily damaged by the White Rock Lake Fire.

Roebbelen notes TNRD officials are also still waiting to get a final tally on damage from the July Mountain fire.

“July Mountain in particularly, with that area still being on order and folks not being allowed in, we don’t know the full extent to structure loss there,” he said. “There are still some residents yet to return back to some of the other areas as well so we may hear more there as well.”

On Monday morning, the TNRD downgraded some evacuation orders near the July Mountain wildfire, including Kane Valley. Evacuation orders remain in place for Brookmere and about two dozen properties on Juliet Drive, near the Coquihalla.

Roebbelen says anyone who’s been impacted by the fire can access the TNRD’s Resiliency Centre located at the Northills Mall in Kamloops.

The B.C. government says a one-time, $2,000 payment is available to people if their primary home has been “severely affected” by wildfires. Further, any household that has been evacuated for 10 days or longer can also access $1,200.

As of last Tuesday, the Canadian Red Cross told NL News 2,100 households have received financial assistance because of wildfires.

Speaking on Friday in Logan Lake, Premier John Horgan also said wildfire preparation will be “a key focus” in the next provincial budget.

“We’ve learned a great deal from what’s happened and we need to put that into practice so the budget process for Budget 2022-23 will have at its centre a commitment to making sure that we as best prepared as we can be for the fire seasons that are coming ahead of us,” he said.

– With files from Kirk Fraser