The Night The Fire Hit

Michele Rahmn woke with a start at 1:45 a.m. Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. She smelled smoke.

She shook her husband, Steve, awake, and he jumped out of bed and looked out the window. The sky over their neighborhood of Coffey Park , in Santa Rosa, California, was filled with thick, dark smoke, an eerie glow of light behind it. Their electricity was out.

Steve ran downstairs and pulled open the garage door. A violent gust of wind blew a wave of debris from the street into their garage. He knew they had to go.

He yelled up to Michele to grab their 3-year-old son, Desmond, out of bed and get in the car. Michele rushed to call her mother, who lived a mile away with her granddaughter. Her mother said she could already see flames near her house. Michele told her to drive to theirs right away.

Steve grabbed his computer, some snacks for their son and a suitcase they still hadnt unpacked from a trip that weekend. He thought that would be enough; theyd be back soon.

As soon as Micheles mother arrived, they all piled in the car. As they were pulling away, a golf-ball-size ember hit the windshield and burst apart. Steve drove away from the fires as fast as he could, heading southwest.

Cars were headed in every direction, some driving onto sidewalks in the rush to escape. About five miles from their house, they pulled into a grocery store to figure out where to go. In the distance, they could hear what sounded like small bombs going off propane tanks from peoples barbecues exploding in the fires heat.

They decided to go to Micheles cousins house, farther out in Santa Rosa. Once there, they sat down together in front of the TV and watched the news. Some of the family members nodded off just as the sun rose around 7 a.m., but Steve couldnt sleep. He got back in the car and drove to their neighborhood. Smoke hung thick in the air, and flames rose 10 feet up in some places. As he drove closer to where their house once stood, he saw only ashes.