A tree came crashing into a couple’s home on James Road, in Broomall Friday morning while they were sleeping and trapped them for hours, killing the wife and hospitalizing the husband. NBC10’s Deanna Durante reports with more on how all of the events unfolded.
An elderly woman was killed and her husband seriously hurt when a tree toppled onto the bedroom of their Delaware County home, trapping them for hours, fire officials said.
The tree crushed the back portion of the home along the 200 block of James Road in Broomall, Pennsylvania, early Friday.
Broomall Fire Dept. incident commander Carl Drake said neighbors heard a crash around 6 a.m., but no one realized the tree fell until a man leaving for work saw the aftermath and heard screams for help. He called 911.[[367821351, C]]
The tree landed perpendicular onto the couple's bed, crushing them. The husband was awake and talking when firefighters arrived, Drake said. The wife was pronounced dead at the scene.
"Get me the hell out of here," Drake said the man told him when he first walked into the second floor bedroom.
A crane was brought in to lift the tree and firefighters used chainsaws to cut it apart. It took 70 minutes to free them.[[238427591, C]]
"When we picked up the tree with the crane, we had a sigh of relief from the guy," Drake said.
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Officials did not immediately identify the couple. The husband was taken by medical helicopter to Penn Presbyterian Trauma Center for treatment.
It's not clear whether the weather played a factor in bringing the tree down.
