Authorities in California announced the passing of a two-year-old boy after a redwood tree fell on a double-wide mobile home in Occidental, California. The tragedy occurred on Wednesday evening as a massive storm rocked California. The storm resulted in many parts of the state experiencing heavy rain and widespread, intense flooding.
“One of our major incidents we’ve had involved a redwood tree falling on a house … and we had a fatality up there of a minor — infant, actually. A one-to-two-year old infant,” Occidental Fire Chief Ron Lunardi said, according to ABC News.
“When I first arrived on scene, a frantic father came out of the house holding the child. He was kind of covered in debris and he said my child is not breathing. …We are in a rural location out here so my first thought was get him into my truck and let’s get him out to the main road because he is on a long dirt driveway. I got the father into the truck,” Lunardi continued.
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“As I was backing up down the driveway in reverse I was giving him instructions to breathe his child for him and as we did we got back out to the main road where I met the rescue squad and they immediately grabbed the child from the father and started CPR and waited for the paramedics to get there,” he added.
California authorities reported that neither the mother nor father were injured in the tragic accident.
“Any time you have a situation like this, especially with a child, everybody’s emotions are a lot higher,” Lunardi concluded.
The small, rural community of Occidental, CA is located in Sonoma County and is minutes from the Pacific Ocean and the Russian River. Occidental has a population of 1,115 people and is approximately 60 miles from San Francisco.
