Michella Flores, a former firefighter and paramedic, has seen and been involved in emergency situations before. However, in the last couple of weeks, she’s survived the Vegas shooting at the Route 91 music festival and just recently, her home in Santa Rosa, California.
Flores, now a flight attendant was in Vegas awaiting her next flight when she decided to catch a bit of the concert. As she was listening to Jason Aldean, she heard the first gunshots but didn’t pay much attention. That is until there was a short break in the gunfire.
She managed to hide in a nearby casino’s conference room with other concertgoers for hours. Once they were finally able to leave, she went back to her room and tried to sleep- it didn’t come.
She worked for the next four days and eventually returned home to Santa Rosa. But upon arriving at her parent’s house she saw the glow of fire and knew it was close:
“She told her parents they should probably start packing their things and left to take her dog to a park. Five minutes later, listening to a local fire dispatch, Flores heard crews mention the name of the road below her parents’ home.‘I called my mom,’ Flores said, ‘and my mom screamed in the phone and said, ‘It’s at the bottom of our driveway.’ She turned back, arriving at the house right behind a fire engine.'” 1
Flores initially stayed on the scene to help firefighters protect the home and once it was safe she left to attend training for work (her parents went to an evac center). However, when she got off from work that evening, the entire house was gone and her parents were left with nothing. They are now staying with Flores.
Flores still hasn’t dealt with all the trauma she’s faced in the last month but knows at some point she will have to. She’s been through so much and we are rooting for her. Stay strong!
