LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A transient staying beneath a “massive” hillside tree in Echo Park was trapped for nearly 30 minutes today when it toppled over, bringing down energized electric wires and significantly damaging an adjacent two-story apartment building, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman said.
Rescuers were called just before 8 a.m. to 1332 Laveta Terrace, said the LAFD's Brian Humphrey. The first firefighters to show up stabilized the trapped man, whose name was not released, and used a chainsaw to cut a rescue path and lessen the weight on him.
More firefighters, including those specializing in urban search-and- rescue operations, arrived to deploy a 50 ton-capable extended boom to lift the tree off the man, who “amazingly sustained only a minor injury” and declined to be taken to a hospital, according to Humphrey.
The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety was sent to assess damage to the apartment building, and the Department of Water and Power was contacted to repair the downed power lines.
“Though there has been rain and wind in the area, the LAFD does not formally determine the specific cause of trees toppling,” according to Humphrey.
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