'Waiting to see how the kids can cope': School's on again in fire-ravaged Fort McMurray

As Maryellen MacDonald roams through the aisles of Staples in Fort McMurray,her daughters grab markers and pencil cases from the shelves and throw them into hershopping cart.

As part of the back-to-school shopping routine, she is carrying a list and reminding Olivia,6,andGabrielle, 9,what they do and do not need. When she tells Olivia she can have a new Thermos, Gabrielleasks what happened to her old one.

"It burnedin the flames," MacDonald says. "It burned in the house."

• Family takes refuge in Nova Scotia

The MacDonalds' house was one of 472 that burned down in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood.

Fire tore through Fort McMurray on May 3, leading to the evacuation of the entire city, and ending the school year.

Now MacDonald'sdaughters are living in a new neighbourhood across the city and are heading to a differentschool. After four months of uncertainty, shehopes September brings a sense of routine.

"It is going to be really helpful, I think. Everything was so thrown up in the air," she says.

"It will give them their structure. It is way better. It is way better for us as a family, definitely."

Flashbacks

The children spent most of the summer away from Fort McMurray.

After evacuating, thefamily of fourstayed with relatives in Antigonish, N.S. The children finishedthe school year there, but the images of the fire stayed with them.

One day, the MacDonalds had to rush to the new school because Gabrielle was having flashbacksand thought her schoolyard was burning.

"We are waiting to see how the kids can cope with some of this stuff," says MacDonald. "We know it was certainly traumatic for them at the beginning."

When the fire swept into Fort McMurray,most of the children were at school. The majority were picked up by their parents and driven out of the community. Heavy smoke billowed over the city, and towering flames burned beside their escape route, Highway 63.

Traffic was gridlocked, so when some parents weren't able to reach their children, teachers took the students with them.In some cases it took days before families were able to reconnect.

Drone reveals the scale of Fort McMurray damage

8 years ago

Duration 1:03

Overhead view of the destruction caused by the Fort McMurray wildfires.

A traumatic trigger

Fort McMurrayeducators are concerned the return could be a trigger for those struggling with memories of the fire.

During the first few weeks of September, Alberta Health Services will bein Fort McMurray providing a welcome centre for families and offering support. The public school district has a mental health therapist dedicated to working with students and teachers.

Educators arebeing trained in programmingdesigned to help them calm anxietyin the classroom.

"We are going to have challenges throughout the school year," says Douglas Nicholls, superintendent of Fort McMurray Public Schools.

"For instance, the first fire drill:What will it actually look like? How do we prepare students for that?"

This summer the school district workedon a strategy to deal with mental health in the schools, but one of thebig unknownsis just how many students will not be returning.

Last year, 5,500 students were enrolled in the city's public schools.Nicholls estimates enrolment could be down between 10and20 per cent this year, meaning that as many as 1,000 children might not come back.

The fire destroyed 2,400 buildings,and entire blocks of Fort McMurray are still sealed off. None of the schools burned down, but four in the hardest-hit neighbourhoods won't reopen this year, as crews are still cleaning upsmoke damage.

Even the schools that were not in the direct path of the fire required extensive cleaning by hundreds of restoration workers.

"We have 40,000 books that have been cleaned, wiped and now re-shelved," says Nicholls.

Classroom material that couldn'tbe cleaned had to be thrown out. Anything that was left behind during the evacuationwas rounded up and labelled.

Clear plastic bags filled with items like homework and running shoes were stored throughthe summer, and in recent days students have trickled in to claim their belongings.

"As soon as we get back to normal procedures, routines, clubs, teams, activities day-to-day stuff that kids want and need, the sooner it will be that the kids will return to a more normal state of their lives," saysNicholls.

Fort McMurray's wildfire scars

8 years ago

Duration 10:55

Fort McMurray was devastated by a wildfire. People who called the area home are still struggling to put the trauma behind them.