Operations

OPS DIVISION DIVISION

Near Miss

The following is a near miss as reported by Captain Scott Jensen from Ladder 289. This incident spurred some regional discussion and inspection of the drive areas at the Chandler Mall. There are some speculations that this may be the result of poor trimming habits. Regardless of the cause, this is something that we want to make sure everyone is more aware of.

"On 8/20/20, L289 was added to a 962 with E283 at Chandler Mall. On our arrival, we were assigned a minor patient that had been involved in a front end collision with a large palm tree in front of the now vacant Nordstroms’s store. Prior to our arrival, E283 had treated and transported one immediate patient and began assessing another minor patient. The vehicle involved in the MVA was a 3/4 ton truck that had center punched a 30-40’ palm tree. Moderate damage was noted to the front of the vehicle with no intrusion in patient compartment. The vehicle was secured in park and the ignition was in the off position. The palm tree appeared intact with no outward signs of instability. Several CPD officers, in addition to mall security, were also on scene conducting their investigation simultaneously. L289 moved their patient to the back of a CPD car, just north of the scene, to calm the patient and find a cooler place to complete an assessment while E283 conducted their patient assessment in the sidewalk area. East of the scene. At the conclusion of the assessments, E283's patient was transported and L289’s patient was a refusal. While completing the PCR, I was standing just to the East of the scene. Suddenly, the CPD scene investigation tech began to yell repeatedly, “Look out”. At that point I saw the top portion of the involved palm tree had snapped off and was falling to the ground. It landed just in front off the vehicle with the palm fronds landing in the driveway. CPD officers were in the cab and near the drivers side of the vehicle and were not impacted by the fall. A mall security guard was standing in the driveway and came in contact with some of the palm fronds as they landed. He was able to walk way from the area and stated that he was not injured."

Near Miss Continued...

"From this point, the immediate area was cleared and secured with scene tape. A Battalion Chief was added to the call and the security guard was taken to an additional on scene Medic unit for evaluation/documentation. The security guard was an on scene refusal. From CAD times, I am estimating that it was just over 1 hour from the impact involving the palm tree to the crown portion falling. Again there were no obvious signs of instability or impending failure of the tree during initial size up and weather did not seem to be a contributing factor.

From the pictures attached you will notice this is a large and heavy portion of tree that had the potential to cause serious injury. We were fortunate to be clear of the fall area and that no one was injured. I think this serves as a reminder to continue to evaluate scene safety throughout the incident and maintain a high degree of suspicion for the potential failure of involved hazards."

OPS DIVISION DIVISION

Call timeline:

PSAP Time: 17:21 E283 On Scene: 17:28 L289 On Scene: 17:53 Approx. time of tree failure: 18:25