Newfoundland parent Scott Chandler jokes that September is usually a whirlwind he "kind of dreads," between juggling the back-to-school season for his son Rhys and restarting a host of his extracurriculars, like hockey, karate and swimming lessons. This year, however, he's looking forward to the normalcy of that busy schedule.

They've been caught in a different sort of whirlwind since his family lost their home as well as Rhys's school Cabot Academy in the Conception Bay North wildfires in early August.

Following local orders, they've decamped three times in mere weeks: from an evacuee centre in Victoria to another in Carbonear to a third in Harbour Grace.

It's been "heartbreaking" explaining to his third-grader "all your clothes, your stuffies, your games, your video games are gone.

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