By Romy Stephens
A primary school-aged boy was airlifted to hospital on 8 April after being struck by a falling tree in Healesville.
Paramedics were called to the scene about 2.30pm and the boy was airlifted to the Royal Children’s Hospital in a stable condition with lower body injuries.
According to the Royal Children’s Hospital the boy is still in a stable condition, as of 9 April.
Healesville CFA captain Graeme Bates was at the Haig Avenue incident and said the boy was “really lucky” to not have been completely trapped.
“On arrival, there was the Ambulance on-scene and a little boy was under the tree, he wasn’t stuck,” he said.
“They had a homemade rope swing made up on the tree. They were playing there and the tree let go, quite a big tree rotted in the base. It split because it was a fork tree and it collapsed.”
“We probably spent 40 minutes there by the time they stabilised him.”
Mr Bates said two trucks from Healesville attended the incident while crews from Badger Creek CFA and the SES were also there.
The incident comes after numerous tree fall-related deaths have impacted the region over the past year.
In July last year, a father and son from Cockatoo were killed after a gum tree fell onto their car in Sherbrooke.
A woman was killed by a falling tree on the Black Spur in August last year while three people were killed in Kallista after their car was struck by a tree on 8 March.
Mr Bates reminded people to keep an eye on trees around their homes.
“We live in that type of area, we moved to the country because we love trees so we just have to keep an eye on them and see how safe they are, what angles they are leaning and what branches are above,” he said.
“Just take a general look at a tree, if it’s looking healthy and straight it’s usually not a problem.
“With some of the older trees it depends on how wet the ground is and how strong the winds are.”
