By Amanda Bartlett
SFGate
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — A large tree branch in Santa Rosa’s Spring Lake Park fell down on multiple people Saturday morning, leaving one person with potentially life-threatening injuries, one person with moderate injuries and four others with minor injuries, including a six-year-old boy, fire officials said.
A group of about 40 people from the Hessel Church in Sebastopol and the Mienh Freewill Baptist Church from El Sobrante were holding their annual picnic and Bible study in the area when they heard the sound of one of the oak trees snap before it suddenly fell, the Press Democrat reported. Firefighters responded to an initial report of a “tree down” in the park at approximately 10:46 a.m., with a fire engine, rescue team and five ambulances arriving at the scene.
Video shared by the Santa Rosa Fire Department on Twitter showed the picnic area sectioned off by police tape near where the tree fell, including a table that appeared to be crushed by the branch and split in half. Fire officials proceeded to declare a “mass casualty incident” and said the victims were transported to area hospitals.
https://twitter.com/SantaRosaFire/status/1680281600326791168
The department said it did not expect to provide any additional updates and left the scene with Sonoma County Regional Parks staff, which was not immediately available to respond to SFGATE’s request for comment.
A supervising Sonoma County Regional Parks ranger told the Press Democrat the tree limb was approximately 15 inches in diameter and wasn’t the first to fall in the park, though assessing the risk of fallen trees in any given area can prove challenging. She urged people to take extra caution and be aware of their surroundings.
“With these trees, what we’re looking at is several years of drought followed by the extreme rains that we had this winter,” Beth Wyatt told the Press Democrat. “The trees tend to soak up a lot of moisture and then because of the drought, the limbs are weak.”
Spring Lake Park is a 320-acre park in northeastern Santa Rosa with nearly 10 miles of trails, a swimming lagoon, boating and camping.
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