BASTROP, Texas — Paying attention in class might never have been so hard for children who started school Monday after the most destructive wildfire in Texas history left hundreds of their families homeless and many with little more than the clothes on their backs.
More than 190 fires statewide have killed four people. The worst damage has been in Bastrop, where two smaller fires joined to form a monster blaze that has destroyed more than 1,550 homes and charred more than 34,000 acres.
With firefighters still trying to contain the wildfire, and power and water cut off to some areas, many in the Bastrop area remain under evacuation orders. School buses stopped Monday at hotels to pick up students. Desk clerks said most of the people in the hotels were displaced by the fires.
The school district provided breakfast and lunch for all students because many families don’t have access to kitchens to pack lunches or make meals, said spokesman Donald Wil liams. Counselors from across Bastrop, as well as health professionals from nearby school districts, were called in to help school counselors. The Associated Press
