Wheeler Ridge workers react to strong 5.2 Mettler earthquake

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — There were several food and gas station workers who were still awake and working close to the epicenter when the quake hit.

In Mettler, late night workers reported that the 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook the city for around 5 minutes.

“I felt the tremor but then I’m thinking it’s gonna stop but it didn’t, so it kept going and that’s when the TV came down, then I’m like, oh god, is it gonna last longer, it was pretty scary,” Shell worker Sandra Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez was getting ready to come to work at a shell gas station, where she and her sister both work, and when the quake hit, her sister was already at the Shell. “I had to call my sister because she was here at work, to see how she was doing, some of the things fell, she was pretty scared too.”

Down the road, In-N-Out employees also felt the quake.

“I was working inside y’know just wrapping some burgers and then everything started shaking, everyone’s kinda turning heads, it just kinda got weird for a second,” In-N-Out employee, Joshua Kirby said.

“Couple of the lights were shaking and then some customers as soon as they felt it they just instantly got up and walked through the door,” In-N-Out employee Isaac Moreno added.

Across the street, attendants at a Goasis had different stories.

“I thought it was a truck driver that hit the sidewall, but actually I seen that it was still moving, so I’m like no this is an earthquake I need to get out of here,” store employee Alex Ayala described.

Ayala’s co-worker Rocio Garcia added, “it hit so hard, then it hit again so we all went to the front yard, and that’s when it’s…it’s just like multiple ones, maybe six or seven after that.”

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