FORT WORTH -- Bryan Liles was sure a tree had fallen on his house or a gas truck had exploded Thursday night.
He felt his house shake and the floor wobble and saw objects on a table moving where he lives near Interstate 30 and Beach Street.
He said the tremors lasted about five seconds.
"It was strange," Liles said.
What he experienced was a 2.5-magnitude earthquake centered about 30 miles away, just a few miles northeast of Waxahachie, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Liles said he phoned police about 11:30 p.m. Fire dispatch said there were some 911 calls related to the earthquake but did not know how many.
Waxahachie Fire Chief David Hudgins, who lives in town, said he didn't notice a thing. "It didn't throw me out of bed," he said.
In the past, some scientists have linked gas drilling with quakes. Hudgins said the closest drilling to town is on the west side of Midlothian, about 15 miles away.
Brian Stump, an Earth sciences professor at Southern Methodist University, said there is a plausible connection between quakes and drilling. "There could be a linkage to the wastewater disposal," he said. Drillers dispute any link.
This year, there have been five quakes within about 30 miles of the Thursday quake's latitude and longitude. The strongest was magnitude 3.0 on July 17, according to the National Earthquake Information Center. Since 2008, about two dozen quakes have occurred within 40 miles of that location.
Staff writer Mitch Mitchell contributed to this report.
Darren Barbee, 817-390-7126