A Tree Fell On Our Stage!

[retslock]

This was at a winery in Southern Oregon. Nice place, nice elevated concrete stage. Like I said, the tree seemed absolutely fine beforehand.
A permanent roof might have slowed things down... or just made for more material for people to be trapped under.
17 years ago a huge pine tree came down during a wind storm at my residence. It landed squarely between the cottage and the car. It would have gone through either like a hot knife through butter.
I generally like trees... but I'm learning not to always trust them!

There were timber cutters in Australia that called certain species 'widow makers'. They drop massive branches without warning. Campers have been killed too. I've been an avid camper myself and I was always careful about where I set up.

 

[retslock]

I live on the edge of a state park near Commencement Bay in Tacoma, WA. Last December, a large alder tree came down during a wind storm and took out the bed of my Tundra. Shortly afterward, I had an arborist survey my property and had several trees pruned and a couple removed. Wind and large trees can be a bad combination!!

I live in a coastal village within a national park south of Sydney. We have very strong winds that hit the forest very hard from time to time. As well as the wind, we're in a massive sand stone region so trees often have widespread and shallow root systems. When the angophora eucalypts come down they leave huge wholes where their roots were and where the bigger branches have ploughed the ground as they came down. Standing next to one of those on the ground you get a tremendous sense of the mass and weight that's in a tree.

 

[Jefenator]

Little update. The drummer was back out playing on Wednesday, just 3 days after the incident.
The crazy part is, he's using the same drum set! Apparently it was a project just to get the water out of everything. He had to replace a bunch of floor tom legs and one hoop, but amazingly none of the wood broke. Some cymbals & stands were toast, but he had enough spares handy. If you look closely at the stand with the cowbells & blocks, that used to be straighter. It felt good to see him back in action so soon.

Unfortunately, the guitarist & violinist are both still out of commission. The guitarist has more pain, they can't quite figure out from what. The violinist has a broken rib in addition to the crushed vertebrae and she still needs a lot of help. So it looks like a speedy recovery is not going to happen for either of them, just hoping for an eventual one somewhere in the close-to-full ballpark. I'm not sure whose insurance will be covering what; I guess we'll find that out in the coming weeks & months.
That storm really did a number on this whole area. I heard reports of tree-related injuries up on the mountain miles away, a trailer park a few towns over and the road nearby I took to get to the gig.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Little update. The drummer was back out playing on Wednesday, just 3 days after the incident.
The crazy part is, he's using the same drum set! Apparently it was a project just to get the water out of everything. He had to replace a bunch of floor tom legs and one hoop, but amazingly none of the wood broke. Some cymbals & stands were toast, but he had enough spares handy. If you look closely at the stand with the cowbells & blocks, that used to be straighter. It felt good to see him back in action so soon.

Unfortunately, the guitarist & violinist are both still out of commission. The guitarist has more pain, they can't quite figure out from what. The violinist has a broken rib in addition to the crushed vertebrae and she still needs a lot of help. So it looks like a speedy recovery is not going to happen for either of them, just hoping for an eventual one somewhere in the close-to-full ballpark. I'm not sure whose insurance will be covering what; I guess we'll find that out in the coming weeks & months.
That storm really did a number on this whole area. I heard reports of tree-related injuries up on the mountain miles away, a trailer park a few towns over and the road nearby I took to get to the gig.

Good for the drummer but sad news for the guitarist and violinist. I hope for their recovery to be successful if not speedy.

Insurance companies usually make the pain from the initial event even worse. That will likely be a long and drawn out process. Best of luck.

 

[Jefenator]

Another update: I just visited the violinist. She has 6 more weeks to go with the brace, and will probably get surgery to help stabilize the spine. But for now the pain is easing somewhat and she's able to walk around. That was really good to see.
She has to keep her arms below the shoulders so she'll probably pass the time practicing banjo. I made a joke about that being the most tragic thing to come out of all of this and she laughed.
The guitarist is also on the mend, looking to return to performing relatively soon.

 

[SharpCat]

Another update: I just visited the violinist. She has 6 more weeks to go with the brace, and will probably get surgery to help stabilize the spine. But for now the pain is easing somewhat and she's able to walk around. That was really good to see.
She has to keep her arms below the shoulders so she'll probably pass the time practicing banjo. I made a joke about that being the most tragic thing to come out of all of this and she laughed.
The guitarist is also on the mend, looking to return to performing relatively soon.

Glad the news is mostly positive.

 

[kesslari]

I'm really glad you were missed. It is pretty hard that your bandmates were hit and injured, let alone the gear wrecked. Falling trees can take out houses, and people. I'm truly glad no one was killed. Crushed vertebrae, though - they're no joke.

 

[Jefenator]

Good news: everyone is back in action!
Turns out the violinist with the crushed vertebrae didn't need a brace for the full 8 weeks. (Just the 4 weeks it took to get in to see the specialist.) Her back is still hurting, so she doesn't do much lifting or stooping. But she is out playing gigs again!
The guitarist is still moving a little slow. But it was 95º out, so we all were. (If it ain't one thing, it's another...)

 

[bassicmike]

Yikes!! Glad you're ok, and hoping your band mates recover fully, as well.

I've got an out door show on Saturday. I'm gonna check for nearby trees, and have my stuff ready to flee at a moments notice.

 

[Lo-E]

Yikes! I hope your fiddle player makes a full recovery. Good that everyone else was mostly unhurt.

As for the tree; that’s just a stage it was going through.