Story highlights Solimar Beach fire is now 60% contained

Wildfire was caused by downed power lines, fire officials say

"Our car could have exploded," woman says of family's drive through fire

Los Angeles (CNN) Maaike Maks and her Dutch family believed they were a safe distance from the Solimar wildfire that roared along the Southern California freeway on Christmas night.

The blaze appeared to be 30 minutes away. They saw no roadblocks.

But they suddenly found themselves in the heart of the furnace. Embers landed on their windshield, and flying torches hit their speeding car. They captured their brush with the inferno on video.

"We didn't realize it was this big and frightening," Maks said.

"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.

Read More