'Massive' tree branch falls on Adelaide driveway injuring two, a day after separate incident at WOMAD
Topic:Trees
16m ago16 minutes agoWed 12 Mar 2025 at 3:06am
A man lays on the ground with a tree branch strewn across a driveway surrounded by emergency services personnel
John Fuss was injured when a tree branch fell outside his Aberfoyle Park home on Tuesday. (Supplied: Marilyn Fuss)
In short:
A couple were taken to hospital on Tuesday night after being hit by a tree branch that fell onto their Aberfoyle Park driveway.
It came a day after two WOMAD festival-goers were injured when a branch fell in Botanic Park in the CBD.
That incident prompted a warning from the State Emergency Service for people to be vigilant, with trees under increased stress due to recent heat.
Warning: This story contains graphic images.
An Adelaide couple were hospitalised after being hit by a tree branch which fell onto their driveway on Tuesday – the second such incident in as many days.
Marilyn Fuss said the falling branch left her with a "big gash" on her head while her husband John was trapped under the gumtree's branch for around 30 minutes.
The couple were transferred to the Flinders Medical Centre but escaped serious injuries and have since been discharged.
Ms Fuss said the incident occurred on her Aberfoyle Park driveway as she returned home from work on Tuesday evening.
A woman with a bloodied face is treated with a towel while sitting on the ground.
Marilyn Fuss was taken to hospital after being hit on the head by a falling tree branch outside her home. (Supplied: Marilyn Fuss)
"My dogs ran out when I got home from work to come and say hello and I bent down to pat them as I heard this humungous crack," she told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"I was like, 'Look out!', and it fell, and I put my hands out to try and catch it but it's like massive.
"Thank god it didn't hit my dogs."
Ms Fuss said her husband was also on the driveway at the time.
"It knocked him five, six metres down the road and landed on top of him so he couldn't get up," she said.
Ms Fuss said fire crews had estimated the branch weighed around 100 kilograms.
"The fireys came really quickly and they got me up and took me to the neighbour's front lawn," she said.
"They had to cut the tree off of him [Mr Fuss] and had to make sure he didn't have spinal injuries or anything like that."
A cracked tree branch
The tree branch fell on the Fuss family's driveway on Tuesday evening. (Supplied: Marilyn Fuss)
The incident happened one day after a separate falling tree branch incident occurred at the WOMADelaide festival.
Two festival-goers were injured, with one hospitalised, when a branch fell in Botanic Park on Monday evening.
That incident prompted a warning from the SES urging people to be "particularly vigilant" about large trees during the summer, with trees under increased stress due to the heat.
Council warned of Aberfoyle Park tree issue, resident says
Ms Fuss said Tuesday was not the first time the gumtree outside her Aberfoyle Park home has caused problems.
She said she notified the City of Onkaparinga when a branch dropped on their driveway on New Year’s Eve, and said they came and did an assessment four days later.
Ms Fuss said she was told the workers would need to return and that she would need to lodge a report, which she said she did.
"But then I heard nothing, and it was only last week that I rang them and I said, 'What's happening about this tree, it's getting bigger and bigger?' and they said, 'Yeah it's on a list to be cut'.
"And here we are."
Ms Fuss said she did not want to see the tree cut down entirely because it attracted koalas, but it "has really massive foliage on it and it just needs to trimmed".
The ABC has contacted the City of Onkaparinga for comment.
Posted16m ago16 minutes agoWed 12 Mar 2025 at 3:06am
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