A wildfire began on June 30, 2021 just south of the village of Lytton in the interior of British Columbia, Canada.

[5] The fire, one of the 2021 British Columbia wildfires throughout the province, was facilitated by the 2021 Western North America heat wave.

[11] The fire swept through the village within minutes, forcing the hasty evacuation of its residents without any time to collect belongings.

[11] Lytton First Nation had an evacuation plan and quickly carried it out on short notice without assistance from provincial authorities.

[13][14] By July 2, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (Kamloops First Nation) had opened their powwow grounds to assist in accounting for band members fleeing from the fire.

[15] The fire destroyed 90 percent of the village, killed two people and forced the evacuation of nearby First Nations communities.

[16] On July 1, local MP Brad Vis made a Facebook post stating that there were reports of several injuries in addition to the two deaths.

Multiple residents blamed the Canadian National Railway (CN) and its mainline through the community, "saying that they saw sparks coming from a passing train at the same time the fire started.

In 2020, Canadian National Railway CN lost an appeal and had to pay $16 million in costs and penalties for causing the Cisco Road fire 10km south of Lytton in June 2015.

By mid October 2021, the Transportation Safety Board ended its investigation concluding that it had found no evidence that the wildfire was caused by railway activity.

[15] British Columbia Premier John Horgan had to answer criticism about his government's response to the crisis after First Nation leaders complained that the province hampered evacuation due to poor communications and by not providing sufficient support for evacuees.

[38] First Nations objected to the resumption of railway service in the area due to speculation that a spark from a train caused the fire.

[38] By October 2021, volunteers associated with the British Columbia Heritage Emergency Recovery Network (HERN) had combed through the burnt ruins of the Lytton Chinese History Museum to recover artifacts.

HERN also examined the site of the Lytton Museum and Archives where a pile of magazines survived the fire with their edges charred but contents still readable.

The November 2021 Pacific Northwest floods have stalled reconstruction efforts in Lytton by cutting off most highway access to the village.

Thus, Denise O’Connor, Polderman's successor as mayor, along with city councilors decided to relax standards to facilitate rebuilding.