Page 17 - Structure Fires News Today

A 6.4 earthquake followed by several hundred aftershock of which were being the largest. following the 7.1, we had two reported structure fires. kern county fire department did an awesome job, got those under control and extinguished and then there were several reports of natural gas leaks at residences. we were inundated with that. so kern county fire, law enforcement officers and homeowners responded and shut those off as we could. and then pg&e as they responded

Gas lines. that was the priority for emergencies. they worked on two reported structure fires. we understand that those have been put out. that the gas leaks when those were reported, and there were numerous phone calms, that those gas lines were shut off. the authorities said theyre still answers emergency calls. but as those begin to die down as they have already, then during the night, emergency services will start looking for structural damage across ridgecrest and surrounding areas. so that...

Significant danger right now fire. we were able to talk to a battalion chief who was out fighting a fire just about a half an hour ago at another home. there have been four structure fires in the past 12 to 14 hours, an unusual thing to happen here in this town of about 27,000 or so, and all of those fires happened after the earthquakes. there was one that happened immediately after the 6.4 and several after the 7.1. there is worry that it has to do with gas lines, but they are checking to see a...

Lets go back out to joe who is on the ground in ridgecrest. joe, what are you hearing? >> well, kendis some of the worst damage weve seen. one example behind me. this is a home that caught fire immediately after the earthquake. neighbors say when that 7.1 hit last night, they immediately started bracing for it. some went up against their walls and came outside when it was done and they could see this house already catching on fire. went up in flames really quickly. the fire department was able t...

This town, at least on the outside externally, you dont see much structural damage. one of the worst examples is what you see behind me, that is a house that caught on fire and neighbors tell us it was the moment after the earthquake hit. they looked outside and they could see that the house was on fire. it went up in flames very quickly. the fire crews arrived and within about 10 minutes were able to put it out before it spread to other homes. so there were a couple structure fires in the area ...

Feel it as it comes through. >> can we expect us magnitude of aftershocks throughout the meeting? >> the largest aftershock has been a six. >> we should feel it now. >> there it is. did you feel that? >> that was the phone ringing. >> that was less than the one that i felt that was 4.9. so clearly, we are a long way away from the earthquake but we can still feel it. we already have damaged houses and structure fires out of the first. this >> this came through just as a 3.5. >> the same fault lin...

Magnitude isnt really estimated my guess is well feel this as it comes through. >> in about ten seconds. >> can we expect this magnitude of aftershocks throughout the rest of the evening. > yeah, the largest is likely to be a six. >> here we go. feeling it now. >> there it is. there it is. there it is. >> feel it? >> yeah. >> that was the phone ringing. >> that was less than i felt from the one that was labeled as 4.9. >> yeah. >> all right. >> so clearly were a long ways away from the erg quake...

When -- >> loss of life. right now theres two things that we dictated to our command center and that is prevent any loss of life and property damage. those are our two initial objectives and thats what were trying to do first and foremost. >> how are you doing on those two fronts? i understand its a fluid -- >> right now theres no fatalities. i dont know injuries. im still working on that. im hopeful its not as -- im hopeful its a good report. im optimistic that it will be. property damage is un...

Significant. looking at our algorithms run through what we call our hazard analysis algorithm, the shaking intensity was at its highest level in and around china lake and just adjacent to the town of ridgecrest. we have significant reports of fires, structure fires, mostly as a result of gas leaks or gas line breaks. there are gas line breaks throughout the city. there will also reports of water main breaks. power is out and communications is out to parts of the community, as well south of ridge...

Just the logistics and the time delay of getting resources out there. we did have firefighters in the community initially on scene. they did the initial damage assessments for any immediate hazards. that being gas leaks or structure fires or even immediate calls for medical service related to the incident. so were about an hour and a half, two hours away from our larger rescue task force and those structure specialists to get out to that area. so thats the biggest issue we had is the logistics a...