'Chased' By Wildfire, Metro Detroit Family Run for Their Lives

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A metro Detroit family’s vacation turned into a fiery nightmare Friday when they and dozens of other stranded motorists had to abandon their vehicles and outrun a California wildfire eating its way across a stretch of desert.

Russell Allevato, 45, of Southgate, his two teenage daughters, and his nephew and his girlfriend were traveling on Interstate 15 near between Las Vegas and Los Angeles when the sudden and fast-moving North Fire began engulfing vehicles, which had slowed to a standstill in the 105-degree heat and approaching fire.

“There were semi-trucks blowing up – it was like a nightmare, apocalypse and movie, all in one,” Allevato, 45, told the Detroit Free Press Saturday after he and his family were safe at a Los Angeles hotel, where they had been taken by California Highway Patrol.

Allevato and his family had gotten out of their rented 2016 Hyundai Sante Fe, thinking the fire was at a safe distance, and were shooting video and photo.

“We were saying, ‘Oh, cool, a wildfire,’ “ Allevato’s daughter, Sarah Allevato, 17, told the Free Press. “We were taking pictures and shooting video.”

Also on Patch:

• North Fire 5 Percent Contained, 3,500-plus Acres Burned
• Interstate 15 Reopens After Cajon Pass Fire

Then the wind shifted, and the fire barreled toward them.

“There was fire to the right to the left and in front of us,” Allevato told The Detroit News. “It was like a horseshoe.”

He gathered his family and, along with what seemed like a throng of thousands, began running away from the fire, which Allevato said seemed to be chasing them.

He described the scene as like something “out of the Walking Dead.”

“It was moving very fast and everyone started jumping out of cars, screaming and running,” he said. “People were getting trampled on.”

Describing the chaos to the Free Press, Sarah Allevato said “herds of people” were running, several of them falling as they fled. “I had to help carry some people because they couldn’t walk” any farther, she said.

Dodging hot ash, they ran about two miles before taking refuge on a hill. The heat was so intense that it turned guard rails red hot, Russell Allevato said.

Allevato, a real estate broker, said Sarah and her sister, Leah, 15, had saved their money for two years for the vacation, which was to have to have included a trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios before they returned home to Michigan Tuesday.

They’re trying to salvage the trip, but have only the clothing – including partially melted flip-flops – they were wearing. Their luggage, wallets and other belongings burned along with the SUV.

The American Red Cross, alerted by the Free Press with the family’s permission, has been in contact with the family.

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Photo special to Patch.com from San Bernardino County Fire Department