Operations & Training

Falling Tenn. Tree Crushes Car, Kills Driver

Dec. 15, 2011

-- Dec. 14--KNOXVILLE -- A tree fell across a car this afternoon in South Knoxville, crushing the vehicle and killing its driver. The Knoxville Fire Department received a call shortly before 1 p.m. that the tree had fallen on the car at the intersection of Colonial Road and Mayflower Drive. Firefighters found a tree about 30 inches in diameter and about 60 feet long across the car. Initial reports said the driver of the car was a man, but authorities on the scene would not confirm that.

Source The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.

Dec. 14--KNOXVILLE -- A tree fell across a car this afternoon in South Knoxville, crushing the vehicle and killing its driver.

The Knoxville Fire Department received a call shortly before 1 p.m. that the tree had fallen on the car at the intersection of Colonial Road and Mayflower Drive.

Firefighters found a tree about 30 inches in diameter and about 60 feet long across the car.

Initial reports said the driver of the car was a man, but authorities on the scene would not confirm that.

KFD has called for a crane and chainsaws to remove the tree from the car and recover the driver's body, according to Capt. D.J. Corcoran.

The base of the tree is about 10 to 15 feet from the edge of Colonial Road.

The main trunk of the tree fell on the front passenger compartment of the vehicle.

A fork of the tree crushed the remainder of the car from the windshield to the trunk.

What caused the tree to fall is under investigation.