CNN iReport

It took me 4 hours and a half to drive just from Pomona to Westminster city. I lived near Cal Poly Pomona University, and left the apartment at 2pm when it didn't look that bad in the sky up there since I got a phone call from my family in Westminster saying that I should stay alert while driving since there is a huge fire around my driving area at that moment. I didn't care that much since I thought it just 30 minutes away usually, but I still left the apartment with some of my most important belongings like my visa, passport ...

I drove down to 57 South at 2pm and gosh, I could see from far away that the sky over there was totally dark like a tornado. I saw a heavy traffic down in 57 down, but I was lucky that I was not that far into 57. I was trying to drive backward about 100 yards at the freeway side, and turned to a local branch.

It was super lucky that I got a GPS navigator with me in the car, that made me feel like I was the luckiest person in the world. I used it to find a local way from Pomona to Westminster. It turned out to be so crazy since even some local road was closed like the part near the Brea area. It took me about 30 minutes plus to drive locally from Pomona to Brea, but then I had to go to 60 W then headed to Fullerton South as a cop told me when he stoped people at Brea. Right after I got up to 60 W, I could see the 60 S was blocked at the other side. Seeing the whole freeway empty after the blocking line with millions of cars stuck right before that blocking line was so creepy to me. I felt again so lucky that I was not in that stuck traffic. Otherwise, I gotta stay there on the freeway overnight, I guess, and it would be the most scary nightmare I ever had.

Well, after a couple minutes on 60W, I saw that the front was totally stuck, so I got down to local roads again, and fortunately, with my GPS, I found the way to Westminster, via Colima, Fullerton Rd, Harbour ... which I saw on the fire map right now that this would be almost the best way around the fire to go from Pomona to Westminster.

Could anyone here imagine how frustrating it would be for driving 3 to 5mph with a lot of stopping in a 2 lane local road for 3 hours? However, it was very touching to me that I passed through one area at the connection between Colima and N.Harbour that there were a lot of village people stood out at the street sides with signs saying "Water stop here", "Restroom stop here" ... to the traffic. They even brought water cups to every single car that needed water. That was very very touching to me, and I felt like "That should be the most beautiful way human beings treat each other", and that were true American hearts.

Wow, I made it to my family home, and the trip was 9 times longer than a normal trip (4.5 hrs compared to 30 minutes). It was like the same time driving from Westminster to Las Vegas which I never had imagined that I would make it alone since I'm a very lazy driver.

Well, what a trip! I've just had a true experience about firestorm, and about human beings love in diaster. Tomorrow, of course, I gotta buy food, drinks, and get some cash for the ride back to Pomona, if the weather allows. Hope everything will be settled down, and everything will be fine for those who were stuck, or especially for those who lost their houses during the monster fire!

Alex Ho