No Injuries—

Massive Tree Topples Onto House

By Andrew Gorosko

Jane Wheeler was watching the evening news on television. Her son, Colby, was brushing his teeth in an upstairs bathroom.

And then everything changed, rapidly.

“It seemed like something exploded…The whole house shook,” said Ms Wheeler, who likened the intensity of the incident to that of a tornado striking.

“It was a loud crash. I actually thought something exploded,” she said.

There were multiple impacts, she added, explaining that she then came to realize that a massive broadleaf tree, which had stood for decades near the house’s southeast corner at 5 South Main Street, had simply fallen over, dropping its hulking leafy remains across all sections of the compact, white Cape-style house.

Both Ms Wheeler and her son were uninjured by the incident. “We weren’t hurt,” she said.

“The cat is OK. He ran into a closet,” she added.

The nearly 100-foot-tall silver maple tree fell amid gusty winds at about 5 pm on Thursday, May 14.

 “I guess it was ready to go,” she said of the prominent tree’s sudden collapse.

“It’s something you don’t expect to happen, but what are you going to do?” asked Ms Wheeler.

As she spoke, Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters checked the extensively damaged house for any hidden hazards caused by the fallen tree.

 Fire Chief Dave Ober later explained the firefighters had searched the property for problems such as live wires or leaking natural gas lines, but found none. The house’s electrical service was not damaged by the fallen tree, he said.

Also, firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to search for the presence of hidden fires, but found none.

“Substantial repairs” would be needed to correct the damage caused by the tree’s impact, Chief Ober said.

Sections of the fallen tree so thoroughly covered the rear of the house that it was difficult to gauge the extent of the damage to that section of the building, he said. It was later learned that the damage there was the heaviest.

Fire Marshal Bill Halstead and police went to the scene to inspect the damage.

A property restoration company arrived at the house after the incident. Also, two tree services were called in to expedite tree removal at the site.

Alan Potter, an arborist with Newtown Arbor Services, Inc, explained that the silver maple that toppled onto the house had not appeared to be diseased, but “the whole center of the tree had rotted over the years.” He estimated that the fast-growing tree was about 100 years old when it fell.

The gusty winds that day caused the rot-weakened tree to fall, snapping its trunk about seven feet above ground, he said. The tree’s trunk was about five feet in diameter. The tree also had at least five stout leaders extending from the trunk, which were each at least 20 inches in diameter.

The fallen tree destroyed an upper bathroom, an upper bedroom, and a dining room on the lower level of the house.

Clearing the wreckage posed a fairly complex job, Mr Potter said, explaining that sections of the fallen tree were lying all across the wood-frame building.

Mr Potter said that several years ago, a section of the same tree had fallen down and landed on an adjacent property. At that time, the extent of the tree’s rot was unknown, he said.

Although the house received extensive damage, Mr Potter said that the Wheelers were not injured.

“They were very fortunate,” he said.

Ms Wheeler said May 19 that the heavy damage to the house will require extensive repairs. Overall, restoration costs could exceed $100,000, she said, adding that the building is insured against damage.

Ms Wheeler said that fortunately her son had walked out of the upstairs bedroom that was destroyed in the incident only a few minutes before the tree fell onto the house.

Chief Building Official John Poeltl went to the property on May 15 to check the damage caused by the fallen tree.

Mr Poeltl said that because the tree had several large leaders extending upward from its trunk, the effect of its impact against the house was as if several trees had hit the structure.

“There’s definitely structural damage,” he said, adding that the full extent of that damage will not be known until workers more closely inspect the house.