A Dutch family on holiday in California inadvertently drove through the Solimar wildfires, and captured the incredible scenes on video.
Maaike Maks captured the footage while driving though Ventura from Los Angeles on Christmas night.
Maks told CNN: "We didn't realise it was this big and frightening.”
"There was nobody stopping us on the highway as we got closer and closer, so we thought it was totally safe for us to drive past it. As we started getting closer, I decided to record the fire we saw next to us, as I had never seen this before."
"Then all of the sudden, all these sparks and a burning bush hit our car, and we couldn't see anything of what was around us because of all the smoke. I was terrified and in a total shock. In the end, it only took a few seconds, but it felt like an hour."
"It was terrifying. We were very lucky. In a worst-case scenario, our car could have exploded."
The fire started at around 11pm local time on Friday near Ventura, and strong winds and dry vegetation caused it to grow rapidly.
A wind whipped wildfire swept across around 1,250 acres of land to the leading to Boxing Day evacuation orders being given to at least 100 homes.
More than 600 firefighters battled the blaze in Ventura County from ground and air but they were unable to prevent the closure of part of a major motorway, Highway 101.
