Crime & Safety

Earthquake in Ranchita Was 'One Quick Jolt'

A quake with a 3.9 magnitude hit Ranchita Friday morning.

No damages or injuries have been reported in Ranchita, near Anza Borrego Desert State Park, following a 3.9 magnitude earthquake Friday.

The quake hit at 10:44 a.m.

An engineer and emergency medical technician with the Montezuma Valley Volunteer Fire Department in Ranchita said that, at first, people didn't know it was an earthquake.

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"We were moving our fire engines, so we weren't sure if it was just the concrete settling after the movement," Paul Smith said. "It felt like the concrete slapped me in the bottom of my feet."  He's based at Station 58, at 37370 Montezuma Valley Road.

Smith said that about three minutes after he felt the jolt, the Monte Vista Dispatch for the County Fire Authority, based in El Cajon, called and confirmed it was a quake and requested that they pull out all water tenders and brush trucks.

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"We always pull all our fire engines outside to protect them when there's a chance of aftershocks," Smith said.


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