Out-of-control wildfire burning near Lytton, B.C. prompts local state of emergency, evacuation orders, alerts

An RCMP equipment failure is responsible for igniting a wildfire near Lytton, B.C., stirring painful memories for a community that is still rebuilding after being levelled by fire four years earlier. A Mountie who was in the area searching for a missing swimmer was towing a police boat along Highway 12 northeast of the village in B.C.’s Interior on Canada Day when a wheel ejected from the right side of the trailer, causing a fire in a grass-filled ditch, said B.C. RCMP spokesman Staff Sergeant Kris Clark.