CLEVELAND, Okla. — Among charred and devastated areas across the state, neighborhoods in Cleveland are sorting through the rubble of what's left of their homes.
Just off 5400 Rd., a number of streets were engulfed in flames, leaving behind debris and a handful of homes still standing.
While not completely untouched, the Schmitt family home is just one of two that were mostly spared from the flames. Beth Schmitt calls March 14th a traumatic day and is having a hard time thinking back.
“It was horrifying," she said. It was scary, the scariest thing in my life.”
Schmitt told 2 News she and her family were watching smoke billowing in the distance all day, trying to determine where the fires were moving.
She said without warning, things changed rapidly when Schmitt stepped inside for what she recalls being a thirty-second period.
"I went back on the porch and I felt this heat. But it was different heat, it wasn’t like weather heat… I was like what is that why is it so hot?" she said. "I wasn't connecting it with anything because there was no fire thirty seconds prior to me going in the house."
But by that point, flames had surrounded the Schmitt home.
Schmitt said her husband and son were trying to put flames out with the hose, but there was no water coming out.
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Panic ensued, as Schmitt and her husband frantically got all their children and as many animals as they could into the car to evacuate.
“Terrifying… I don’t know how I’m alive," she said. "I’m gonna start crying because trying to talk about it is bringing back memories.”
Because the flames had surrounded them, Schmitt had very little faith that her home would still be standing when they returned.
But as she pulled into her driveway hours later, she was stunned to see it was.
Schmitt believes God had his hand on them... But so did their neighbors.
“There was nothing they could do for their houses, and mine was still standing, so they were taking water out of my duck pond and putting my porch out… and they saved my house, and theirs burnt down.”
Hers and one other on their block is still upright, while every other home has been turned to ashes.
Schmitt told 2 News she's so grateful to still have her home, but feels immense guilt at the same time. She's using her good fortune to support her neighbors however she can.
“We’ve just come together, like you wouldn’t believe, like this morning… I have a house so I made them eggs and sausage and took them some breakfast," said Schmitt. "I’ve told them as long as I’ve got water, you’ve got showers... We’re not just a community anymore, we’re a family. This is a family. And we will forever be intertwined because you can’t live through something like this and not.”
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