Back to school after wildfire

MONDAY marks the return to school and some semblance of routine for thousands of children who lost their homes to a deadly wildfire in northern California.

Schools in the county had been closed since Nov 8, when the blaze swept through the town of Paradise and surrounding areas, destroying nearly 14,000 homes and killing at least 88 people in the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century.

About 31,000 students in all have been away from school since the disaster. On Monday, nearly all of them went back, though some of them attended class in other buildings because their schools were damaged or destroyed, or inaccessible inside evacuation zones.

Counsellors brought in from around the country were in nearly every classroom to help children who were distressed by their escape through a burning town and the loss of their homes, Paradise school Superintendent Michelle John said at a celebratory news conference.