2 New Quakes Jolt North Coast : Destruction: Fire razes Scotia’s only shopping center. More homes throughout the area suffer major damage during aftershocks. Loss is put at $47.5 million.

Two mighty aftershocks Sunday slammed a Northern California coast already reeling from a major earthquake, triggering fires and finishing off some homes and buildings that had survived the first jolt.

Just as they started to pick themselves up from Saturday’s 6.9 shaker, residents in the tiny lumber and farming towns of Ferndale, Petrolia and Scotia found themselves battered anew by 6.0 and 6.5 quakes within a few hours of each other early Sunday morning.

“I’ve been in a lot of earthquakes in this area, but this is the worst one in my lifetime,” said Pete Cook, 54, a construction worker in Petrolia, who watched as the home he built 30 years ago inched a bit farther off its foundation with each movement of the Earth. When the most recent major aftershock came, the house was knocked completely onto the ground.

Throughout Humboldt County, a remote coastal area of redwood trees and rugged hillsides, 94 people were treated at hospitals for mostly minor injuries that included broken bones and cuts. All but 12 were released, and the injured included four firefighters, said Sheriff David A. Renner.

The main quake Saturday was centered about 35 miles southeast of Eureka, near the farming community of Petrolia. Sunday’s two aftershocks--a magnitude 6.0 at 12:42 a.m. and a 6.5 at 4:18 a.m.--were placed 20 miles southwest of there, in the Pacific Ocean. Both aftershocks were felt as far away as San Francisco, 200 miles south. Officials said the temblors were among more than 40 aftershocks registering more than magnitude 3.0.

County officials put preliminary damage estimates at $47.5 million, half of which was sustained by roads, bridges and other public facilities. Gov. Pete Wilson declared a state of emergency in the area.

Much as the main quake had done, Sunday’s aftershocks knocked Victorian-era houses off their foundations, toppled chimneys throughout the area, cracked several bridges and jostled residents from slumber, sending them fleeing into the streets.

Rattled and dazed, many residents spent Sunday camping on lawns, gingerly retrieving belongings from damaged homes and nailing plywood over shattered windows.

In Scotia, a picturesque company town owned by the Pacific Lumber Co., the first aftershock sparked an electrical fire that destroyed the only shopping center. A grocery store, hardware shop, pharmacy and coffee shop--virtually the town’s entire business district--were burned to the ground. The lumber mill across the street was spared.

Firefighters, hampered by a lack of water in the hydrants because of a ruptured water main, watched helplessly as flames shot 100 feet in the air and engulfed the stores. Eventually, they were able to draw water from a nearby pond, but it was too late.

Mary Bullwinkel, who works for Pacific Lumber, said she awoke in the middle of the night with the first aftershock, hopped out of bed and stood in a doorway. Once the ground stilled, she went back to sleep. Then, she was thrown awake again by the 4:18 temblor. At that point, she gave up on sleeping and went to a friend’s house, where they watched the shopping center fire on television.

“I was in shock,” Bullwinkel said.

The bartender at the century-old Scotia Inn had just closed for the night when the first aftershock hit; she crouched and watched nervously as the inn’s ornate wooden pillars swayed precariously above her.

About 30 homes were badly damaged in Scotia, said Renner, the sheriff.

Across the Eel River in Rio Dell, the jolt shortly after midnight knocked Tim Sarlund’s trailer forward a good two inches, and it blew out the hot water tank. A lumber stacker who was born and raised in the area, Sarlund grabbed his pregnant wife and high-tailed it to his parents’ home in Scotia.

“We always have small ones,” Sarlund said. “This is the first one that’s got me shaking like a leaf.”

But reflecting a determination common in Humboldt County, one of the most seismically active regions in the state, Sarlund said he has no intention of leaving.

“We’re staying,” he said. “This is home.”

The North Coast Railroad line through Scotia--the only one through that part of the region--was closed after Fossil Bluff collapsed, causing a rockslide. The line was expected to reopen in three or four days.

Saturday’s quake had shattered storefronts in Ferndale and knocked at least two dozen of the town’s well-preserved Victorian homes off their foundations. Also on Saturday, a quake-triggered fire destroyed Petrolia’s single general store and post office--damage similar to what Scotia suffered Sunday.

Another half-dozen of Ferndale’s historic homes that had emerged relatively unscathed from the main quake were badly damaged by Sunday’s twin shocks.

Among the latest victims was the Ferndale Inn on Main Street. A portion of the inn, which has served as a bed and breakfast for a century, shifted off its foundation and wound up leaning over a retaining wall at the creek.

Guests at the vintage 1859 inn ran out of the two-story yellow building after the second aftershock and slept the rest of the night on the front lawn. Flower-patterned quilts and two cages holding four cockatiels remained on the dew-moistened lawn early Sunday as the haggard guests sipped coffee and munched leftover spaghetti.

“What am I going to do?” moaned owner Danielle Gyurik. “That’s life. Life is life and we’re all OK. Everyone in town is OK. . . . It’s just wood, it’s just a house.”

Ferndale, a village of 1,700 settled in the mid-1800s by German and Portuguese dairy farmers, has been converted into a quaint tourist attraction with boutiques and businesses housed in brightly painted Victorian buildings known as the “Butterfat Palaces” because they were built with fortunes from the dairy industry.

This portion of the California coast is a hotbed of seismic activity because three tectonic plates--the Pacific, the North American and the Gorda--intersect near here. Ten strong quakes have rattled residents in the last 20 years.

Damage in this weekend’s shakers, although intense in some areas, did not represent widespread devastation. But recovery might not be so easy.

Many communities hit hardest by the quakes already were suffering from the recession and the decline of the lumber industry. Even cattle and sheep farmers have seen their livelihood threatened by a resurgence of coyotes, mountain lions and other predators.

“There are a lot of people here who don’t have homeowners insurance, let alone earthquake (insurance),” said widower Frank Carrasco, 83, of Petrolia. The string of quakes knocked his home off its blocks, split it in half and ripped two porches from the exterior walls.

“The way I feel right now I just want to walk away and leave it.”

Paul James, who operates a lumber sorting machine, and his wife Ronda, a beautician, were born in nearby Fortuna and live in Scotia. Like many other rattled residents, they vowed to stay.

“This puts you in a shock, but not enough to leave,” Ronda James said.

It took this string of quakes to break the more fragile gifts from their wedding 12 years ago and give their cat a nervous disorder. But, they said, disaster unites the town of 1,200.

“Everyone in the town was up (during the night),” Paul James said. “Everybody was asking how everybody was. . . . It just draws people together.”

The sheriff’s office said at least 43 homes in Petrolia were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the three quakes; another 40 sustained minor to moderate damage. In Ferndale, 30 residences have major damage, and the elementary and high schools will be closed today for repairs. Fifteen of Rio Dell’s 20 downtown businesses were condemned because of damage, 20 homes have major structural damage and another 40 homes sustained moderate damage.

Rio Dell remained without water late Sunday, and all but potable water was restored to Ferndale. About 20 residences in Ferndale were evacuated early Sunday afternoon amid fears that gasoline was leaking into the city’s sewer system. The residents returned after it was determined that gasoline was not filtering into the system.

Meanwhile, at the Humboldt Bay power plant and nuclear storage facility, no cracks, leaks or other damage was reported, said Bob Prigmore, spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

The plant, three miles south of Eureka, generates electricity and stores 390 fuel bundles of spent uranium fuel rods, held under 26 feet of water.

“They’re safe,” Prigmore said. “It bounced around a little bit; you get wave action on top of the pool, but it settles down.” There was no release of radioactivity, he said.

Times staff writers Virginia Ellis and John Hurst contributed to this story.

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