LOS ANGELES -- The strongest earthquake to strike a populated area of Southern California in more than a decade rattled windows and chandeliers, made buildings sway and sent people running into the streets on Tuesday. But there were no immediate reports of serious injuries or major damage.

The 5.4-magnitude quake - considered moderate - was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego, and as far east as Las Vegas, 230 miles away. Nearly 30 aftershocks quickly followed, the largest estimated at 3.8.

The quake was centered 29 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles near Chino Hills, a San Bernardino County city of 80,000 built mostly in the early 1990s with the latest in earthquake-resistant technology.

Buildings swayed in downtown Los Angeles for several seconds, leading to the evacuation of some offices.

http://www.cbs8.com/stories/story.136004.html

And in Other news:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. July 7, 2008, 05:10 am ET · In the past few years, Rich Nieto's work has started earlier and lasted longer.

The regional fire operations director for the Southwest Coordination Center said the West's fire season used to stretch from May into August or September, starting with blazes flaring up in the Southwest's arid spring.

But now fires touch off in April or earlier, and the season sometimes stretches into October, said Nieto, whose job entails allocating and moving ground-based firefighting resources.

In California, drought, high temperatures and lightning storms have contributed to more than 800 square miles being burned since June 20.

"What we're concerned about now is California is very active at a much earlier date than it usually is," said Don Smurthwaite, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

last week, the already fiery 2008 season and a forecast for more hot, dry, windy conditions in parts of the West prompted the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group, made up of top federal and state fire managers from various agencies, to raise the nationwide preparedness level to 5 — the highest possible.

That means looking at national approaches, such as hot shot crews or aircraft, Nieto said. It might mean mobilizing the National Guard because other resources are exhausted, he said.

New Mexico called on National Guard Black Hawk helicopters to drop huge water buckets on a Manzano Mountain fires and last week sent two of the helicopters to California to help with its fires. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered 200 guardsmen to report for training to augment fire lines — the first time troops there have been called to ground-based firefighting duty since 1977.

Daily conference calls work out priorities for crews and equipment, and the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, state agencies and others cooperate with each other, Nieto said.

The new level 5 designation was based on three criteria: major fire activity in three or more of the 11 geographic areas; a large percentage of available fire crews and resources already committed; and an expectation that the fire season is only going to get worse, Smurthwaite said.

"All three boxes were checked 'yes'," he said.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92277324