Photo:http://www.pbase.com/andrewbh/fallen_tree

This past Saturday, an enormous fir tree, perhaps 200 years old, and easily 7 stories tall, collapsed onto a house on Sutton Street in Sherman Oaks. According to the LA Fire Department: “The 2 story single family dwelling sustained significant damage, outwardly bowing the perimeter walls of the upstairs master bedroom and the downstairs garage, causing the Building and Safety Department to “yellow tag” the structure as unsafe. As the large pine was falling, a 4 inch gas line was lifted 4 feet out of the ground by the root system and the branches ripped down power lines servicing the area.”

Miraculously, nobody was killed or injured.

Later that day, many neighbors, faces powdered and hair gelled, emerged from behind their electronic gates, on foot, to inspect the damage.

The tree had ripped open the concrete curb and street, and fallen onto and crushed a two story home. The circumference of the fir was huge, about 10 feet around. People talked of lawsuits and the failure of the city to prevent this. They expressed amazement that nobody died.

What weakened the tree? It seemed to be pressed tightly against the curb for many years. It had been here for two centuries, in these open hills, before development came, when California was still officially Mexican territory.