Personal Narrative: Loma Prieta Earthquake

The sun shined down on my back while I jumped in my car and began started the engine. I couldn’t wait to get to my friends house, to watch the first game of the World Series. This year, it was the Giants vs the A’s, two teams from the Bay Area. Being a Giants fan I couldn’t wait to watch the game with my buddies. I pushed my foot on the gas pedal, urging my car to go faster so I could get to my friends house before the first pitch. I was close to my friends house when the ground shook violently, being a Fremont Firefighter, I suddenly knew that a large earthquake had just hit.
Everyone slammed on their brakes and look around. I turned to the person next to me and said, “Something fell down.”
I started my car back up and turned around, heading in the direction …show more content…
If a bad aftershock had struck, many people would have died, including me, who was crawling around in an unstable structure. About five months later, I shook the hand of George Deukmejian, the Governor of California and received my Certificate of Valor, for “extraordinary heroism in the face of extreme danger” at the Loma Prieta earthquake. Today, Loma Prieta earthquake can be described as an incredible learning tool for the fire department. We learned a lot more about communication, which was huge problem since, many firefighters didn’t have a joint frequency for radios. Command was another thing that was fixed after the earthquake, at the earthquake, no one was commanding, many people were just doing what they felt was right. Today, firefighter know how to take command and control a big incident, like the Loma Prieta earthquake. I look back on that moment, time and time again, wondering what I could of done differently? If something would of changed if I did? All I know for sure is, the Loma Prieta Earthquake killed sixty-three people and injured around three thousand, I was lucky to not be one of those