My Story

There's a fire in the North Bay," a friend texts us at 2am. Huh? Why is Sheila texting us the news I wonder. I go back to bed. At 3am the doorbell rings. I must be dreaming. I go back to bed. At 5am the phone rings. "There's a fire. We need to get out!" Christian says. What? I don't smell smoke. There's no fire in the house. This time I get up and brush my teeth. The doorbell rings again. Sebastian says, Hey, I rang your doorbell earlier at 3am." Ok... What's happening?!

Photo from The Press Democrat

Earlier at 2am, Sebastian was awoken and evacuated from Fountaingrove Inn with just himself, his passport, and his ID. Twenty minutes later, his hotel burned down. For the next few days, multiple wildfires will rip through Northern California (hitting Santa Rosa, Napa Valley, and Sonoma) and become known as the sixth deadliest blaze in California history according to npr.org.

Fear and Evacuation

On Monday October 9, 2017, my fiance and I wake another roommate, watch smoke clouds fill the air in a distance, rush back and forth to grab important documents, frantically update awoken and concerned neighbors on the street of our escape route, and then drive away with our roommates, in fears of the fires jumping onto the highway and trapping us in. We had no time to research how close the fire was or what was really happening.

Click to see where we were.

Constant Check In

Over the next few days of my life, I lived hour by hour. Worried about the house my fiance and I bought just a little over a year ago, I was constantly checking news online, listening to radio stations, and searching for real-time fire maps. I lived day by day, finding shelter at friends' houses in Fremont, San Rafael, and Rohnert Park. Lived meal by meal.