SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : Quake Damages Home of Firefighter Shot in Riots

Fate has been unusually cruel for Scott Miller: The firefighter was shot during the riots and his San Fernando Valley home was severely damaged in the earthquake.

But the fire captain does not believe that the riots and earthquake have much in common.

“It’s apples and oranges. They’re completely different animals, completely different types of events, with completely different types or origins,” Miller said.

When the magnitude 6.6 quake struck Jan. 17, Miller, his wife, Kathi, and their children, Ryan, 7, and Julianne, 5, were asleep in their Granada Hills home just a few miles from the epicenter.

The house cracked, items flew off shelves and a 300-pound piano danced away from a wall as the earth groaned beneath them. The Miller family scampered outside into the darkness.

“We could see fires in five different directions,” said Miller, who was shot after responding to a fire on April 29, 1992, just hours after a jury acquitted four police officers in the beating of Rodney G. King.

The earthquake cracked the foundation of his home.

“It’s worse than some, not as bad as others,” Miller said. “As a city, we’re awfully darn lucky we didn’t lose more people. You just roll with the punches and keep on going.”