Fallen 100,000-pound oak tree crushes man in California home, firefighters say

An enormous oak tree toppled onto an Encino, California, home in the dead of night, crushing a 64-year-old man in a second-story bedroom, firefighters said.

Los Angeles Fire Department crews tried to extricate the man from the wreckage, but he was pronounced dead, a news release said.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” Capt. Cody Weireter told KTLA. “You’re looking at well over 100,000 pounds of a tree falling onto a home in the middle of the night.”

Firefighters rescued two women and a dog on the first floor of the 3,200-square-foot home after the tree fell about 11 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28, the Los Angeles Times reported. None were hurt.

There were no high winds or gusts, but neighbor Tony Montero told KTLA that he’d expressed concern about the tree to his wife.

“It was leaning directly over the house … it was probably 30 degrees,” Montero told the station.

Another neighbor, Mark Ruszecki, told the Los Angeles Times that he initially thought the noise of the tree falling was an earthquake. He estimated it was 700 years old.

“It was a beautiful, big tree,” he told the publication. “It was pretty much as big as the house.”

Firefighters reported early Monday, Nov. 29, that they were working to remove the tree.

This story was originally published November 29, 2021 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Fallen 100,000-pound oak tree crushes man in California home, firefighters say."