Fire Rages Through California House After Earthquake

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck Southern California near the city of Ridgecrest, about 113 miles (175 km) northeast of Los Angeles, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Thursday.

The Kern County Fire Department said on Twitter it was working “nearly 2 dozens incidents ranging from medical assistance to structure fires in and around the city of Ridgecrest, CA.”

Ridgecrest Mayor Peggy Breedon said the city was dealing with fires and broken gas lines, as well as falling objects that hit people, as the city endured many aftershocks.

“We are used to earthquakes but we’re not used to this significance,” she told MSNBC.

The quake is the largest in Southern California since the 1994 magnitude 6.6 Northridge earthquake, which was centered in a heavily populated area of Los Angeles and caused billions of dollars of damage, USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso said.

https://www.voanews.com/usa/strong-earthquake-sets-fires-damages-desert-city-east-los-angeles