Woman trapped and left unconscious after windstorm topples large tree in Vancouver

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Friday’s wind-storm caused a large tree to fall on a pedestrian, trapping her and leaving her unconscious.

Firefighters responded to the incident which took place in the area of Crown Street and West 13th Avenue, at around 2 p.m. Friday.

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services Assistant Chief of Operations, Trevor Connelly, says fire crews arrived to find the massive tree down, and completely covering the sidewalk and a pedestrian.

“We received a call for a very large tree that broke off just above the ground and toppled over,” he says.

“Unfortunately the tree came down on top of a lady who was walking by down the sidewalk. The house in front of where the tree came down had a construction fence made of plywood around the house. So the plywood went on top of the lady, then the tree on top of the plywood, which was actually a good thing because the plywood helped protect her.”

He adds crews had to work fast, as the woman who was pinned under the tree could not be spotted by firefighters.

“They found this very large tree, the patient was not to be seen anywhere. As it turns out, the patient was unconscious,” he says.

“The crew utilized their chainsaw, starting cutting the tree away a little by little, pulling pieces away. One of the neighbours also had a chainsaw so the crew had two chainsaws. They were able to free the patient from under the tree and plywood.”

Complex rescue by @VanFireRescue #Engine19 yesterday.

Crews arrived to unconscious woman completely buried under huge tree felled by wind.

Extensive search & methodical tree removal to extricate pt & transfer care to @BC_EHS.

All of #VFRS @iaff18 wishes her a full recovery. pic.twitter.com/4fmRF5HAjt

— Chief Commissioner Darrell Reid (@FireChiefReid) October 26, 2019

Fire crews eventually were able to free the woman and she was taken to hospital. It’s uncertain what condition she’s in now.

Connelly says in those cases of life or death, time was of the essence.

“The stress the fire crew was under was large because of the large volume of branches and not knowing where the patient was and not being able to make contact with the patient but knowing there was someone under there because luckily someone saw it happen,” he says.

“Had someone had not seen that person under there, it would have been a much different outcome.”

Connelly says 13 firefighters worked on the rescue and were able to free the woman within ten minutes of arriving on the scene.