From Baseball to Love: ABC7 Staff reflect on how Loma Prieta changed their lives

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- If you were in the Bay Area 30 years ago, Loma Prieta is one of those moments in time you remember, including much of the staff at ABC7.

"We see crumbles, the concrete from up above is starting to fall and we could see it filter down to our seats. The stadium goes silent," said 5 o'clock producer Deb Kabasakalis. At 5:04 PM on October 17, 1989, Kabasakalis was at Candlestick Park for game 3 of the Giants-A's World Series.

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"All of a sudden, we see someone's TV set, which was the size of a toaster, not like the ones today and there's a picture of the Bay Bridge and it's collapsed and it dawns on us that this is a major quake and that's when we start to leave. Everyone files out," explained Kabasakalis.

It took Kabasakalis and her husband four hours to drive home to their eight-month-old daughter in the East Bay.

"I knew intuitively that I was okay. I felt like this is not the big one, and frankly, I'm still waiting for it."

ABC7 transmission operator, Byran Jones, makes sure live shots make air. But, 30 years ago he worked at Kaiser on Geary Blvd.

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"After the earthquake people were standing around outside the hospital trying to figure out where to go and what to do."

So Bryan decided to help three coworkers, who he met on the sidewalk. He invited them to stay at his San Francisco apartment since they couldn't get home to the East Bay.

Two years later-- he married one of those co-workers.

"It's a great memory-- because without Loma Prieta, I probably would have never met my wife or had my kids," explained Jones.

Take a look at ABC7's in-depth coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake here.