For the fourth time in as many months, a tree has fallen dangerously in the City of Vancouver.
In May, it was a rotting tree in Victory Square that took down power lines and trapped cars for several hours.
In July, massive limbs fell off of trees near Kits Beach and in Mount Pleasant. The former briefly trapped two pedestrians underneath, and the latter narrowly missed a passing cyclist.
This week, a large tree limb fell onto a car parked at Robson Park on Kingsway near Fraser Street. It collapsed the roof and smashed the window on the passenger side.
“Nobody was in the car, thankfully,” said Chris Gauthier, the owner of the vehicle. “We were just setting up my kid’s birthday party and we heard a massive crash.”
Gauthier said he hopes the damage will be covered under his insurance. It’s not something one thinks about when parking a car, he said.
“It’s surreal,” he said. “You certainly don’t expect it.”
Gauthier’s comments echo those of others who have witnessed falling trees in Vancouver this summer. In each case, those who’ve seen a tree fall have called it a close call, a near miss that could have been worse.
There are more than 140,000 trees in the city, according to Howard Normann, acting manager of urban forestry for the Vancouver Park Board. All of them are inspected annually under the board’s management program, he said, but that doesn’t prevent incidents like the one at Robson Park on Monday.
“These happen to be high-profile trees in high-profile areas,” Normann told CTV News after the Mount Pleasant incident. “As much as we don’t like that to happen, occasionally it does happen.”
At that time, Normann said residents can help prevent future problems by keeping an eye out for rot or cracks in their local trees, especially after high winds.
Residents can report concerns about their local trees by calling 311, the city’s public information line.
