8 children hurt, 2 critical, by falling tree in California
Jul 28, 2015, 8:12 PM
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — A huge, ancient pine tree uprooted and fell onto kids at a summer day camp Tuesday, injuring eight children, two of them critically, fire officials said.
The 75-foot-tall, 75-year-old pine crashed without warning at around 5 p.m. just outside the Kidspace Children’s Museum, city fire spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
The tree is located in Pasadena’s Brookside Park, just outside the museum grounds near the Rose Bowl.
“I heard a tree crack and then I turned around and I saw little kids running and then I saw the tree fall on top of the little kids, maybe about five or seven of them,” Greg Prodigalidad told KABC-TV.
Tim Scheidler, the museum’s marketing manager, said, “It was the end of the day, so there were people gathered outside who were leaving and there was a camp group waiting for pickup by their parents when the tree came down.”
Museum staff, firefighters, parents and police quickly converged on the scene.
Prodigalidad said he and some parents rushed over and began pulling children free of the branches.
The Fire Department dispatched its urban search-and-rescue team to use power tools to cut apart the tree to ensure no one was trapped underneath.
Eight children, ranging from 6 to 8 years old, were injured. Derderian said six were treated at the scene for cuts, bumps and bruises and two were taken to a hospital in critical condition, although their conditions could change after doctors evaluate them.
All the children were alert and able to talk, she said.
Hanna Lin of Altadena, who volunteers at the museum, said her daughters, ages 6 and 7, attended the camp. They were crying and shaken up but escaped injury, she told KABC-TV.
“I myself saw two children carried out on stretchers and they were pretty bloody. That brought tears to my eyes,” she said. “Apparently they were doing arts and crafts directly under the tree when it fell on them.”
All of the 33 day campers were all accounted for and the museum planned to reopen as scheduled on Wednesday, Scheidler said.
It was unclear what made the pine topple on a warm, clear summer day with minimal winds.
California is in the midst of a severe drought that has persisted for several years. But it wasn’t immediately known if that could have played any role.
“We are bringing out an independent arborist to investigate what could have caused this,” Derderian said.
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