November 17, 2018

The most destructive wildfire in California’s history continued to burn this week in Butte County, taking more than 60 lives, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless and all but obliterating the town of Paradise, population 27,000, while destroying nine of 10 schools in Paradise Unified.

For a perspective on the impact of the devastation on families and schools, Louis and John interview Mandy Corbin, assistant superintendent of the Sonoma County Office of Education. A year ago, she coordinated the county’s response to the state’s last big wildfire, the Tubbs Fire, which destroyed sections of the city of Santa Rosa and the surrounding area.

Corbin discusses the training that teachers and administrators took in the aftermath of the fire, the traumatic effects on students and their teachers and the state of the recovery a year later.

For background: