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SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Sarah Cleveland and Mitchell Hackwood woke up in the middle of the night on Sunday to hurricane-force winds outside and a heavy smoke smell in their home north of Santa Rosa.
The winds were fanning wildfires in California’s wine country that would turn deadly earlier this week.
“It was overwhelmingly scary,” Hackwood said. “You can feel your adrenaline just take over. You watch it traveling at 20 or 30 miles per hour across these lands and it’s just almost unreal.”
People in the neighborhood were panicking when the couple woke up at 2 a.m. They fled their neighborhood as the fire moved closer and closer to their area.
They made it to Cleveland’s father’s house in Santa Rosa and waited out the night.
In the morning, Cleveland and Hackwood went back to their house to try to grab a few more of their belongings.
When they got back to their neighborhood, they discovered the fire had leveled every single house.
“Our entire neighborhood was gone,” Cleveland said. “There was nothing left.”
The couple lost everything they owned aside from a car, their dog and a few pairs of clothes, Cleveland said.
Cleveland went to school at Highland High School in Sugar House. Much of her mother’s family lives in Salt Lake City, and her father lives in California. She has lived in California for about a decade and is working in the wine industry along with Hackwood, her fiancé.
A GoFundMe page* has been set up to assist the couple. They were renting in the home they lost, but they did not have renter’s insurance, Cleveland said.
In addition to destroying homes, the fires will be devastating for the wine industry and the economy of the area, Cleveland said. She is a wine educator for a winery in Napa, and Hackwood works in shipping and distributing for a variety of different wineries.
“It’s crazy that you can go through a tragedy this intense but feel so grateful and so full and whole through it all." — Sarah Cleveland
Cleveland said she doubts that any of the wine currently in production in the area will be sellable. Entire crops of grapes have burned, and the heavy smoke could ruin wine that’s fermenting and aging in barrels, she said.
“Our beautiful little wine industry has been definitely tainted,” she said. “This is going to be a huge devastation on the economy.”
Hackwood said it’s still “utter chaos” in Sonoma County, with people unsure what to do. The fire is still out of control and high winds are still helping it spread.
“A lot of people are in devastation and running still,” Hackwood said. “There’s a ton of different emotions I’m sure around Sonoma County.”
People are helping each other out, though, he said. Those who haven’t lost their homes are opening their doors to people who need a place to stay.
Even though the fire was devastating, Cleveland and Hackwood both said they feel grateful that they survived. They are lucky to have family members in the area who have been able to help them, Cleveland said.
“It’s crazy that you can go through a tragedy this intense but feel so grateful and so full and whole through it all,” she said.
Her biggest worry is that with all the homes destroyed and so many displaced people looking for somewhere to live, it will be difficult to find housing, she said. But they planned to get an early start on the search.
All of their friends in the area are safe, and nobody else lost their home, Cleveland said. She said she and her fiancé feel like they fared well considering the circumstances.
“When tragedies like this happen, it’s terrifying, it’s scary, you feel alone,” Cleveland said. “And then to walk into a community and a world that’s been so gracious and giving and full of love has just been probably the best possible outcome for our situation. We’re in awe. I think of it all and knowing that we’ve lost almost everything, we’re very surprisingly happy and doing well.”
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
