The Fraser-Nicola MLA made an emotional plea in the legislature today to get Lytton residents back home.

Jackie Tegart fought back tears while explaining that it’s been 99 days since fire ripped through the village on June 30, destroying an estimated 90 per cent of the town and killing two people.

“Ninety-nine days and still not allowed full access to their homes. Ninety-nine days of restaurant food. Ninety-nine days of displacement. Ninety-nine days of frustration, anxiety, no answers, no hope, limited assistance… with winter on its way,” she says.

“What is the plan after 99 days? Lyttonites are resilient people, who are anxious to move forward on the path to recovery. But everyone in the community has been traumatized. I ask government to step up, provide the support that was promised, and let’s get our people home.”

Tegart says the community still looks like a “warzone” following the June 30 fire.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the government is almost done a recovery plan, that has been worked on with Lytton village council and the Fraser Basin Council.

“That plan is due on the 15th of October, and once we receive it I’m happy to share it with that member [Tegart]. In the meantime, the Minister of Municipal Affairs has assured there is capacity within the (village) itself to help deal with the situation in terms of establishing services and re-establishing their capacity to function as a village.”

Farnworth says emergency social service supports are in place until Nov. 30. He says those supports will most likely have to be extended.

“There is a short-term, a medium-term, and a long-term requirement in terms of building back Lytton. That is going to take place.”