FONTANA -- Eric Sherwin was off duty when the ground shook on Wednesday morning.
It was enough to wake up the San Bernardino County firefighter, but with strong winds recently blowing through the region, he and many others thought it was something else that jolted him.
"At first I thought it was just a gust of wind," he said. "Then I realized it was more than that."
Definitely, more.
Southern California was hit Wednesday by a magnitude-4.4 earthquake. The quake struck at 1:35 a.m. at a depth of just over 3 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was 3 miles north-northwest of Fontana and 4 miles west-northwest of Rialto, said USGS seismologist Valerie Thomas.
Bob Snedaker looks over the shelves of emergency preparedness supplies at his store Life Emergency Provisions Inc., in Redlands on Wednesday, January 15, 2014. (Rick Sforza/Staff Photographer, Los Angeles Daily News)
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages, but the temblor was felt as far east as Morongo Valley and west to Los Angeles.
Some described it as a rumbling quake. One police officer compared it to the impact of a car crash.
"It felt like somebody ran into our building," said Sgt. Chris Hice of the Rialto Police Department.
Hice said the only report of damage in the city 25 minutes after the earthquake was of some broken glass at a school.
Though it rocked enough to set off school alarms in Rialto.
In Fontana, Police Department Dispatch Supervisor Amy Blessinger described the impact as "a pretty good jolt." She said there had been calls to police confirming the earthquake, but no reports of damage.
The Fontana watch commander, Sgt. Brian Heaviside, was on patrol in a vehicle when the quake hit.
"I barely felt it," Heaviside said.
Heaviside then asked for the magnitude and location of the earthquake epicenter.
"4.4?" he said. "That's a decent jolt."
No damage was reported along the northwestern corner of Riverside County, the area of the county closest to the epicenter, authorities said.
Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Armando Munoz said Eastvale, Norco and Jurupa Valley reported no impact from the earthquake.
Bob Snedaker, owner of Simpler Life Emergency Provisions Inc. in Redlands, expected the earthquake would draw some extra customers to his store.
"Those whose hearts are into this, we'll see (in here) today," he said.
Snedaker sells emergency preparedness equipment and supplies mostly to businesses, industry, schools, government and hospitals, but also has a retail store on Park Avenue for anyone to purchase supplies.
He noted the quake's closeness to Friday's 20-year anniversary of the Northridge quake.
"It dovetails nicely with Friday's anniversary. It's an interesting connection!"
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