The first earthquake hit in the morning but over twenty earthquakes and aftershocks would hit the city. Fires soon began after the first quake reaching temperatures of 2,000 degrees. Water lines had been broken and the fires burned for three days and two nights. Buildings were dynamited to create a firebreak. 3,000 people died and most of the city was destroyed. Though the earthquake occurred in California there is a Kansas connection. General Frederick Funston was in command of soldiers from The San Francisco Presidio fought the huge fire and took command of the situation. Funston’s boyhood home was in Iola, Kansas.