Employment Attorney in Huntington Beach, CA

ORANGE COUNTY, CA - the U.S. Geological Survey reported that a 2.6 magnitude quake shook close to Huntington Beach Monday morning.

It was reported that a tremor struck the region at 3:56 a.m. The epicenter was situated roughly 4 miles south of Huntington Beach, at a depth of 9 miles.

Did you feel it?

If you noticed the earthquake, you can report it via the USGS Felt Report form. So far, the agency has collected 37 online responses from individuals saying that they felt the quake. According to the USGS DYFI report, weak shaking was detected and people in cities like Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley reported experiencing the tremor.

Past week's quake

Over the last week, a magnitude 2.6 quake was registered in the area, occurring near Fontana five days ago.

What to know about earthquakes

Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake, the U. S. Geological Survey says. It replaces the old Richter scale. Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech. Earthquakes below 2.5 magnitude are seldom felt by most people.

Earthquakes' sudden, rapid shaking can cause fires, tsunamis, landslides or avalanches. They can happen anywhere, but are most common in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Puerto Rico and Washington, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year. 100,000 of those can be felt, and 100 of them cause damage.

What to do during an earthquake

If an earthquake strikes, it's best to protect yourself right away. Here are tips from experts:

If you're in a car: Pull over and stop. Set your parking brake.

If you're in bed: Turn face-down and cover your head with a pillow.

If you're outdoors: Stay away from buildings. Don't go inside.

If you're inside: Stay and don't run outdoors. Stay away from doorways.

The best way to protect yourself during an earthquake is to drop, cover and hold on, officials say. "Wherever you are, drop down to your hands and knees and hold onto something sturdy," officials say. "If you're using a wheelchair or walker with a seat, make sure your wheels are locked and remain seated until the shaking stops." Be sure to cover your head and neck with your arms, and crawl under a sturdy table if possible. If no shelter is available, crawl to an interior wall away from windows. Once under a table, officials say you should hold on with one hand and be ready to move with it.

"There can be serious hazards after an earthquake, such as damage to the building, leaking gas and water lines, or downed power lines," officials say. "Expect aftershocks to follow the main shock of an earthquake. Be ready to Drop, Cover, and Hold On if you feel an aftershock."

Source: The U.S. Geological Survey

This article was generated by the CA Earthquake Bot, software that analyzes structured information, such as data, and applies it to articles based on templates created by journalists in the newsroom. No human journalist was harmed in this experiment. You can report errors or bugs to [email protected].

A 12-year-old boy trapped under a crashed helicopter in Huntington Beach in an unlikely chain of events is on the path to recovery after a memorable birthday that boosted his family's spirits.

Oliver Holland was pinned under the helicopter when it crashed Oct. 11 in a beach parking lot, injuring five people. He had been in a medically induced coma until he woke up over the weekend on his 12th birthday after surgeries for a collapsed lung and bleeding in his brain.

"I was there when he woke up, and I was just crying tears of joy," said sister Madeline Ashwell, adding that Holland was able to speak with family members.

The helicopter went down next to the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa at 21500 Pacific Coast Highway. Part of the heavily damaged helicopter came to rest on top of a staircase leading from the parking lot.

Holland was with relatives from out of town and walking to the bridge from the beach when the helicopter crashed.

"Wrong place, wrong time," Ashwell said. "If Oliver was five feet ahead, it wouldn't have happened.

"What we've told him is that he was just in an accident. And, what he says is, 'How did this happen? Why did a helicopter land on me?'"

The video showed the helicopter hovering over the lot before spinning out of control. It crashed into palm trees before falling onto one end of a pedestrian bridge over Pacific Coast Highway.

Video showed Holland on a pedestrian bridge staircase pinned under the wreckage.

The helicopter is a 1980 Bell 222 helicopter that took off from Redlands Municipal Airport. The helicopter was part of the Cars N' Copters event scheduled for Sunday, according to officials.

The National Transportation Safety Board has taken over the investigation.

Weak magnitude 2.5 earthquake at 15 km depth

27 Oct 10:58 UTC: First to report: EMSC after 2 minutes.27 Oct 10:59: Now using data updates from USGS27 Oct 11:01: Hypocenter depth recalculated from 14.33 to 14.65 km (from 8.9 to 9.1 mi).

Earthquake details

Nearby places

The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is Huntington Beach, a city with more than 200,000 inhabitants in the United States, in 2.8 km (1.7 mi) distance north of the epicenter. People likely experienced very weak shaking there. The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.

User-reports for this quake (4)

So far, we have received 4 reports for this quake from the United States. The quake was reported to have been felt in up to approx. 5.4 km (3.4 mi) distance, with isolated cases to have felt the quake even 8.3 km (5.1 mi) away.

Most reports came from Huntington Beach (3 reports), a city with more than 200,000 inhabitants in California in 2.8 km (1.7 mi) distance north of the epicenter, United States, and Costa Mesa (1 report) (7.4 km or 4.6 mi to the east), a city with more than 110,000 inhabitants. Further below is a list of places where most people reported this quake.

The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red.Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs.Read more about the MMI scale!

If you were near the epicenter and felt it, please share your experience and submit a short "I felt it" report! Other users would love to hear about it!If you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it as well! Your contribution is valuable to earthquake science and seismic hazard analysis.

Compare Quake Data

The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.

Based on data from the past 55 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 2,700 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi):

The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. It has had at least 6 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 20 to 25 years.

Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake

The earthquake occurred 7 weeks after a magnitude 3.2 earthquake had hit on Monday, Sep 8, 2025, at 10:49 pm local time (America/Los Angeles GMT -7) in 91 km (57 mi) distance to the north: The largest quake near the epicenter of this quake during the 10 years before was an event of magnitude 7.1. It had occurred 6 years earlier, on Friday, Jul 5, 2019, at 08:19 pm local time (America/Los Angeles GMT -7) in California, United States: The strongest-ever (since 1900) recorded quake in this area measured magnitude 7.5. It had occurred 73 years ago earlier, on Monday, Jul 21, 1952, at 04:52 am local time (America/Los Angeles GMT -7) in California, United States: Below is a list and map of larger or recent quakes that had occurred near the epicenter before this earthquake (within up to 100 km/61 mi distance, up to 300 km/183 mi for very large quakes above mag. 7). Filter and sort the list by magnitude or time.

All

Magnitude All

30 years

All

Magnitude All

30 years

Oldest quakes are shown in yellow, most recent in red.

[quakes -] [quakes +] [smaller] [bigger]

The sirens rang across the Pacific Ocean, catching the attention of nearby surfers waiting for waves, passersby on the pier looking down at the water to watch the action unfold.

Lifeguards dressed in dive gear aboard a rescue boat sprang into action, swiftly jumping into the sea to retrieve the victim from underwater.

While it was a mock rescue that unfolded in Huntington Beach — the “victim” transported to the beach to be helped by paramedics was a mannequin — the display on Wednesday, Oct. 22, showed how training and technology help to keep beachgoers safe.

The display was paired with a press conference announcing a milestone for the busy coastal city to date in 2025: There have been no fatal drownings across city beaches and residential pools for the first time in at least seven years.

Fire Department Chief Eric McCoy said the summer started with a plea to families to take water safety seriously, asking people to use a newly-launched “Water Watcher” program that designates one person to keep an eye on people in their group.

That means no eyes on cell phones, no drinking, no distractions — just watching the water.

“Every year, we’ve had drownings in our city,” McCoy said. “This year, the community heard our pleas and we all pulled together. … That success comes from prevention — the Water Watcher program, the fast response of our emergency responders and people in our community taking responsibility for safety at home and at the beach.”

The Marine Safety Department released its 2025 end-of-summer statistics, reporting more than 125,000 calls for service between Jan. 1 and Oct. 16.

It was a busier-than-normal summer at the beach, said Marine Safety Division Chief Trevor McDonald, with big swells and strong rip currents coinciding with big crowds. Fourth of July was a particularly busy weekend, with mass rescues as huge rip currents pulled people out to sea.

Typically, the city has about 3,000 to 4,000 rescues in a season.

This summer, there were 4,428 rescues, 84,676 preventative actions, 34,723 enforcement contacts, and 1,807 medical aids along its 8.5 miles of coast.

“Those numbers show how active our beaches are and how committed our crews are in keeping prevention at the forefront,” he said. “Our lifeguards spend just as much time talking to people about rip currents, tides, surf conditions, as they do making rescues. Stopping a problem before it starts is always the goal.”

The dive team is a key part of that response system, he said. The mock rescue mimicked an airplane that crashed into the ocean, training held each year ahead of the Pacific Airshow in the city.

The divers have specialized suits and full masks that allow them to communicate underwater with one another and with crews on the surface.

“Our lifeguards and firefighters train side by side so that every link in the chain of survival is strong,” said McCoy. “When seconds count, our firefighters and paramedics have consistently delivered faster response times to near drownings and medical calls, helping keep the number of fatal drownings at zero this year.”

This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Karaoke Event Honors the End of an Era

Westminster, CA — October 17, 2025.

For decades, Westminster Mall has been more than just a shopping center – it has been a cultural landmark, a gathering place, and a backdrop for countless memories in Orange County. Generations have walked its halls, shared meals at its food court, gone on first dates at its movie theater, and built their own stories under its roof.

Now, as the mall faces its final closure, the community is coming together to honor it in the most joyful, cathartic way possible: by singing.

On Friday, October 17th, from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, we invite the public to join us for a special “Goodbye Westminster Mall Karaoke Party” inside the mall, by the JCPenney entrance. The event will feature karaoke performances of nostalgic songs – everything from mall-era classics to heartfelt ballads – as a way to bid farewell to a place that has shaped our community.

Hosted by “Patricia Patterson,” the mall’s tongue-in-cheek “manager” character, this event is both a memorial and a celebration. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the significance of Westminster Mall while also creating one final joyful memory within its walls.

“This isn’t just about saying goodbye to a mall,” says Alexis, organizer of the event. “It’s about honoring a piece of our shared history. Westminster Mall has been woven into the lives of so many families here, and this karaoke event gives us a chance to gather, laugh, sing, and remember together.”

Event Details:

Members of the press are warmly invited to attend, cover the event, and help capture the spirit of community as we close the doors on a beloved landmark.