Huge tree's collapse sends homeowner to hospital Huge tree's collapse sends homeowner to hospital (January 07, 2004)

** Responsibility for tree's upkeep has yet to be determined.

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

Menlo Park resident Anne Klein is keeping her powder dry as she considers her next steps after a huge eucalyptus tree that may be located on county land fell and hit her husband, sending him to the hospital and destroying much of their front yard.

The tree toppled to the ground in calm weather at about 1 p.m. Friday, January 2, at 2165 Santa Cruz Ave. in West Menlo Park. Joe Klein was walking across the yard when he heard a cracking sound, which prompted him to look up just as the upper branches of the tree were coming down on him.

"I'm a novice," Ms. Klein told the Almanac in response to a question about what she was going to do next. "I only know that there's a whole lot of damage that needs to be fixed."

She said she has asked San Mateo County officials repeatedly to trim the trees, the last time several years ago, but that they have always said no.

Mr. Klein, 61, was probably spared the full impact of the part of the tree that hit him when heavy branches fell on and destroyed a Volkswagen Jetta parked in the driveway, Ms. Klein said. If the car hadn't been there, she said, the branches would have hit the ground and her husband with much more force.

Mr. Klein was trapped under the tree for about 15 minutes while firefighters from the Menlo Park Fire Protection District cut their way through to free him, his wife said. He was taken to Stanford Hospital.

He suffered no apparent external injuries despite being hit in the chest and head with branches, Ms. Klein said. But when the hospital released him after a six-hour stay, he was in shock and needed to be helped to the car, she said. "I'm really surprised that Stanford Hospital let him go," Ms. Klein said.

Since he's been home, Mr. Klein has fallen twice and has been experiencing "very severe pains in his chest and on his head," Ms. Klein said. "I think he has been wounded somehow by the pressure of the branches that fell on him," she said, adding that the hospital instructed her husband to see his regular doctor this week. He was given an electrocardiogram at the hospital, she said.

Mr. Klein worked in the electronics field until 1982, when he suffered a massive career-ending stroke, his wife said. In retirement, he has worked as a blacksmith.
Damage from tree

The eucalyptus tree, which was about 6 feet wide at the base, was about 115 feet tall, Ms. Klein said, judging from the fact that when it fell, it spanned their front yard, a distance of about 115 feet.

As it fell, its heavy branches completely destroyed one pine tree and ripped off branches from another pine, an elm, and an oak. The falling oak branches punched three holes in the roof of the house, Ms. Klein said. She said she is worried about the stability of the remaining pine now that one side of it has been entirely stripped of branches.

The tree also destroyed a 5-and-a-half-foot-high fence, a dog run, planters and shrubberies in the front yard, she said. "You name it, it's either gone or will need fixing," she added.

Tree trimming on county land is the responsibility of the county's public works department. Tsutomu Inamura, a road maintenance manager in the department, said his crew will clean up the yard and remove the tree, but that it's up to the homeowner to file a claim for damages with the county Board of Supervisors -- if the tree is determined to be on county land.

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