HOOD RIVER, Ore. — A family that evacuated from a wildfire near Hood River Saturday night did so on their daughter's wedding night.
“It was an absolutely gorgeous, perfect day,” said the bride’s mother, Sandi Slater, recalling the hours before the fire broke out. Her daughter Hannah and son-in-law Trevor Vorhies were married at the Westcliff Lodge in Hood River.
“Seeing your sister get married, it's beautiful, I teared up a little bit,” said the bride’s brother, Craig Slater.
But late Saturday night, those tears of joy turned to terror.
“It was just panic, pure panic,” said Sandi. “We all thought we were going to die.”
Just before midnight, the fire spread to the honeymoon cottage. No one was inside, but all of the couple's wedding gifts and belongings, were. The wedding party had been in the main building at the time and rushed back to the cottage to see the fast-moving flames.
“We were just running and embers were hitting us,” recalled Sandi. “We were hitting doors, telling people, ‘get out, get out, get out!’”
That's when they heard the couple’s dog, crying from inside the burning cottage. The pug, named George, was trapped on the second floor.
The bride’s brother-in-law, Josh Momberger, ran inside and saved George.
“He went in there, crawled on hands and knees through the smoke to save the dog,” said Sandi. “We are so grateful.”
The couple lost everything they had stored in the wedding cottage—gifts, cash, even passports, which halted their honeymoon to Costa Rica. Friends started a GoFundMe campaign to help them bounce back.
“It just warms our hearts to see people stepping up and genuinely caring,” said Sandi.
“It could have been much worse,” added Craig. “We're all very lucky and blessed that it wasn't."