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Saturday fire fighters and their families gathered at the State Capitol to pay tribute to fellow firefighters who lost their lives in 2006 as their names were added to the California Firefighters' Memorial. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides and other state leaders joined the Capitol Park ceremony honoring the memories of 27 firefighters killed while combating blazes across the state. The 27 names were added to the memorial wall, including those of 15 firefighters who died in the line of duty this year. The names of 12 other firefighters who died previously from job-related injuries were also added to the wall.
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Aftershocks are keeping Hawaiians on edge following the strongest earthquake in more than two decades, a 6.6-magnitude quake that caused blackouts, landslides and prompted vacationers to flee their hotels. There are no reports of fatalities, but the state Civil Defense had several reports of minor injuries. Gov. Linda Lingle issued a disaster declaration for the state. The quake hit at 7:07 a.m. local time Sunday, 10 miles north-northwest of Kailua-Kona, a town on the west coast of Hawaii Island, also known as the Big Island, according to Don Blakeman of the National Earthquake Information Center, part of the U.S. Geological Survey. The Pacific Tsunami Center reported a preliminary magnitude of 6.5, while the U.S. Geological Survey gave a preliminary magnitude of 6.6. The earthquake was followed by several strong aftershocks, including one measuring a magnitude of 5.8, the Geological Survey said. Forecasters said there was no danger of a tsunami, though choppier-than-normal waves were predicted. The quake caused statewide power outages, and phone communication was possible, but difficult. The outages were caused because power plants turned off automatically when built-in seismic monitors were triggered by the earthquake. Some power had been restored late Sunday in Maui, parts of Honolulu and other places, but many remained in the dark. All electricity systems needed to be rebooted, which was expected to take several hours in more populated areas like Honolulu. A FEMA computer simulation of the latest quake estimated that as many as 170 bridges on the Big Island could have suffered damage in the temblor, said Bob Fenton, FEMA director of response for the region. More than 50 federal officials were en route to the Big Island to assess damage and begin recovery work, he said. The Big Island has about 167,000 people, according to a 2005 Census estimate, and many of them live in and around Hilo, on the opposite site from where the quake was centered. Earthquakes in the 6.0 magnitude range are rare in the region, which more commonly sees temblors in the 3- and 4-magnitude range caused by volcanic activity.
