California was hit by an earthquake Friday as the state battled deadly wildfires earlier this week.
A 3.7 magnitude quake was detected near the San Francisco Bay area around 7:02am PT.
The tremor’s epicenter was about five miles southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge and two miles west of the Great Highway.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) shows more than 5,000 people reported feeling the shake in the area, and the number is growing.
The area sits on the San Andreas Fault line, which runs through from Cape Mendocino in the north to the Salton Sea in the south.
The quake was followed by a 2.2 magnitude aftershock centered in the same area about 4 minutes later and a 2.5 magnitude six minutes after the initial hit.
The seismic activity also happened about 350 miles away from the Los Angeles area where devastating wildfires killed at least 10 and forced 180,000 from their homes.
As of Friday morning, over 10,000 structures have been burned down, with a total of 29,053 acres of land scorched in one of Los Angeles’ most horrific disasters to date.
A 3.7 magnitude quake was detected near the San Francisco Bay area around 7:02am PT, with its epicenter about five miles southwest of the Golden Gate Bridge and two miles west of the Great Highway
The seismic activity also happened about 350 miles away from the Los Angeles area where devastating wildfires killed at least 10 and forced 180,000 from their homes
Mayor Daniel Lurie said on Friday: ‘I ordered city government into action immediately this morning, and our first responders have been out across the city ensuring the safety of our residents.
‘We have also been sharing information and giving people the tools to protect themselves and their families in an event like this.’
No injuries or damage have been reported at this time.
The USGS detected a 3.0 magnitude earthquake on Thursday, less than 100 miles from Friday’s quake, along with a 2.8 and 2.6 on Tuesday.
Locals said that Friday’s earthquake led the San Francisco Muni subway to halt operations, just as people were heading to work this morning.
Nadia Rahman, a San Francisco Bay resident, shared on X: ‘[I] just felt the most significant earthquake I’ve personally experienced in San Francisco.’
Others reported on the platform that while it was a big one, the shaking only lasted for about a second.
Scientists have said that the West Coast is overdue for a massive quake along the San Andreas fault, a major fracture in the Earth’s crust that spans 800 miles up and down California.
San Francisco sits on the San Andreas Fault line, which runs through from Cape Mendocino in the north to the Salton Sea in the south
The US Geological Survey (USGS) shows more than 5,000 people reported feeling the shake in the area, and the number is growing
The ‘Big One’ would measure an 8.0 magnitude or above, causing roughly 1,800 deaths, 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage, according to the California Earthquake Authority.
Experts are ‘fairly confident that there could be a pretty large earthquake at some point in the next 30 years,’ Angie Lux, project scientist for Earthquake Early Warning at the Berkeley Seismology Lab, told DailyMail.com.
But wildfires have destroyed much of the Los Angeles area.
The Calabasas blaze, named the Kenneth Fire, was allegedly caused by an arsonist, who has been apprehended by police.
While night time curfews have been introduced to crack down on looters.
The level of devastation is jarring even in a state that has grown used to massive wildfires.
The Calabasas blaze, named the Kenneth Fire , was allegedly caused by an arsonist, who has been apprehended by police
The devastation of the Palisades Fire is seen in the early morning in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday – the same day as the earthquake to the north
Dozens of blocks of scenic Pacific Palisades were flattened to smoldering rubble.
In neighboring Malibu, blackened palm strands were all that was left above debris where oceanfront homes once stood.
Metropolitan LA and its 13 million residents woke up Friday to yet another day of fire-stoking winds and the threat of new flare ups.
But the gusts were expected to diminish by evening and already have died down from earlier in the week, when hurricane-force winds blew embers that ignited hillsides.
