Children back to school after California wildfire
405 views · Published 9 December 2018 · 0:52 · Indexed 6 November 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(4 Dec 2018) For the first time in nearly a moment kids at Paradise Valley Elementary returned to school today. Holly Ratliff, her son Micah and daughter Maisie seem all happy to be there but not without remembering how the recent wildfire destroyed their entire town, killed their pet, and burned down their home. "It's great to be back at school" said Maisie who added "Our house burn down" her mother Holly still can't believe what happened to their hometown of Paradise. "Still all surreal, still waiting to wake up. And this not be real but I can't believe our town is gone but so glad that the school has opened up and did what they had to do to get the kids back" said Holly 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 two dozen people remain unaccounted for, down from a staggering high of 1,300 a few weeks ago. 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. The massive wildfire killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes in Northern California. The nation's deadliest wildfire in a century killed at least 85 people, and 249 are on a list of those unaccounted for. The number of missing dropped in recent days as officials confirmed that more people were alive. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7d49119546f0a6021f19533e216004da
