A firefighter in Black Canyon City said the National Weather Service in Flagstaff reported a mild earthquake in the town, located 54 miles southeast of Prescott on the Yavapai County/Maricopa County border, late Friday night, although no homes or buildings received damage and no one suffered injuries.

Black Canyon Fire Department firefighter/paramedic Shawn Smith said he and four other firefighters were on duty around 11 p.m. Friday when the quake, which reportedly registered at 3.1 on the Richter scale, occurred three miles underground about 10 miles north of Black Canyon City near Sunset Point.

"We were sitting in recliners and noticed a little shake," Smith said. "It felt like somebody hit the building (at the fire station) and kind of sounded like if our guys were to jump off one of the top bunks and run around a little bit. It probably carried on for a few seconds and stopped."

Afterwards, Smith said the department started receiving calls throughout Black Canyon City as well as nearby Cleator and Cordes Lakes to the southwest and southeast, respectively, about the seismic event.

Tremors apparently continued on through the night Friday and into early Saturday morning before coming to an end, Smith added.

"All morning long we were receiving phone calls with reports about what happened," he said. "But there were no reports about things falling off shelves or anything. Most people were sleeping and didn't realize it happened."

Black Canyon City resident Jim Lake said he was at home watching TV in his house when he heard what he called a "loud bang."

"It sounded like something exploded," he said. "I've been in earthquakes in Southern California, and this didn't feel like those. I thought a gas line broke."

Added an employee at Javelina Crossing, a Black Canyon City bar, who did not want to give his name, "It sounded more like a sonic boom. Earthquakes do not typically have a boom associated with them. Generally speaking, an earthquake either has a sideways shift or a vertical shift, and this did not have either one."