After a man was killed by a falled tree in a storm on Sunday, officials at the University of California, Berkeley is surveying the campus for other potentially dangerous trees.
Novato resident Alexander Grant, 32, was driving on Gayley Road near the northeast corner of the UC Berkeley campus the afternoon of January 6, when his car was crushed by a large eucalyptus tree. UC Police Department officers and city firefighters responded, pronouncing Grant dead at the scene.
UCPD Sergeant Nic Hernandez said the fallen tree was reported at 3:48 pm during a wind advisory and heavy rain.
André Senior on Twitter Eucalyptus tree that toppled onto car & killed man Sunday on the UC Berkeley Campus is being removed & placed into a wood chipper. Vic was not student but here visiting a student, RPT. @KTVU #Berkeley
“In my 14 years at the university, I haven’t heard of any kind of tragedy like this occurring,” Hernandez said.
With more rain in the forecast, UC Berkeley hopes to minimize the potential for another incident.
Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said officials were taking immediate steps to assess whether other trees were at risk of falling, based on the condition the fallen eucalyptus free.
Mogulof said tree maintenance was recently conducted on all university-owned sites and the fallen tree was not flagged as needing care.
The university hoped to complete their inspection in the next two days and will remove potentially dangerous trees if recommended by certified arborists.[ad fullwidth]
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