---
title: "Town Sets All-Time Heat Record, Then Burns to the Ground"
description: "90 percent of Lytton, British Columbia, a small village of approximately 250, burned to the ground after recording Canada's highest ever temperature ever."
date: "2021-07-02"
modified: "2021-07-02"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/town-heat-record-burns"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "heatwaves"
  - "the digest"
  - "wildfires"
---

# Town Sets All-Time Heat Record, Then Burns to the Ground

![90 percent of Lytton, British Columbia, a small village of approximately 250, burned to the ground after recording Canada's highest ever temperature ever.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/town-heat-record-burns.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://vimeo.com/569678188?fbclid=IwAR2olaAvqK_9tULYPVZ5jAHZV6bjyhd3FFDreNG8EWvgWkOvDChg73IrlZc" target="\_blank"\>2 Rivers Remix Society via Vimeo\</a\>\</em\>*

## From the Frying Pan

Ninety percent of Lytton, British Columbia, a small village of approximately 250, burned to the ground after recording Canada's highest ever temperature ever of 49.6 degrees Celsius (121 Fahrenheit) — in the same week.

"There won't be very much left of Lytton," Jan Polderman, mayor of the village, [told the *BBC*](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57678054>). "There was fire everywhere."

Much of the west coast is [experiencing record temperatures](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/heat-wave-smashing-records-us-canada>), in large part due to climate change — a terrifying sign of what's still to come. Over a hundred wildfires are burning in the Canadian province. 47 of them started in just the last two days, [according to *Global News*](<https://globalnews.ca/news/7995210/bc-wildfire-map-2021/>).

## Into the Fire

British Columbia recorded 486 deaths over just five days, compared to an average of just 165 over a comparable period, according to the *BBC*. Officials believe heat played a role in the [deaths of 65 people](<https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/more-than-25-people-have-died-suddenly-in-burnaby-mostly-due-to-the-heat>) in Vancouver alone since last Friday.

Fortunately, residents were able to flee before the flames took over Lytton.

"People basically just grabbed their pets, grabbed their keys and got into their car and fled," Polderman told the broadcaster.

A staggering 710,117 bolts of lightning formed over British Columbia and parts of the neighboring province of Alberta, caused by the extreme heat. That's bad, needless to say, because the area is already prone to fires.

"I’m being careful about my words," Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California [told *Gizmodo*](<https://gizmodo.com/i-suspect-it-will-get-a-lot-worse-firestorm-in-british-1847213731>). "I suspect it will get a lot worse, and it’s already quite bad."

In general, experts maintain that climate change likely had a lot to do with the freak weather.

"Climate change is definitely one of the drivers of the intensity of this Canadian heatwave — but it is not the only one and determining how much it impacts it, is a work in progress," Friederike Otto from the University of Oxford told the *BBC*.

**READ MORE:** [Canada Lytton: Heatwave record village overwhelmingly burned in wildfire](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57678054>) \[*BBC*\]

**More on the heatwave:** *[This Heat Wave Is Smashing All-Time Records in the US and Canada](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/heat-wave-smashing-records-us-canada>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)