A large tree came crashing through the roof of a house in the Donaldson Run neighborhood this morning.
Firefighters and a building inspector responded this morning after a call from a neighbor. The badly-damaged house was condemned, but no injuries were reported. What exactly caused the tree to fall is unclear — today’s weather has been relatively calm.
The house is located near the intersection of Vacation Lane and 25th Street N. and near Taylor Elementary School.
Related Posts
- ACFD Battles House Fire in Donaldson Run March 12, 2012
- Christmas Tree Came With Unwelcome Visitor January 13, 2012
- Custis Trail Blocked By Fallen Tree July 5, 2011
- Large Tree Falls, Damages House February 19, 2011
Bet you the tree had an automatic transmission. Even the trees are incompetent in arlington
Awaiting the first of the DR comments. Sucks for the homeowner though…
Did anyone hear this?
Does the standard homeowner’s policy cover this, or does one have to get a rider or the like?
How terrible
Forget it, Jake. It’s Donaldson Run.
Someone saw Roman Polanski with a large knife?
Steve85 is on his way to Donaldson Run right now to berate the tree.
Glad no one was home / hurt.
How is this Arlington news?
Seriously? How are you asking that question?
I’m pretty sure he’s just carrying on the running joke about Donaldson Run
We need a newbie guide to inside jokes. With a special expanded section about novasteve.
I believe that he typed it.
I saw the whole thing: it was a bike commuter running a stop sign at an empty intersection that caused the tree to fall in horror of the biker’s utter lack of consideration for yielding to drivers of SUVs that never speed or break any other traffic laws.
was the SUV automatic, triptronic or manual tranny?
and was it registered here or in Ohio?
seriously, get the story complete before posting.
Was the cyclist wearing a goofy jersey?
Single family houses are un-safe – quick tear them all down and replace them with brick high-rises and yogurt shops.
If only Artisphere weren’t sucking funds from Arlington’s tree anchoring program.
Seriously, it’s possible that the roots were recently cut, perhaps due to construction. I don’t see that in the photo though. Also could be a serious case of some kind of disease, especially a root disease.
I’m certainly no expert, but when I first browsed the pics, I thought the lack of roots really stood out.
We have an array of large, senior age trees in our lot. Disease in the core weakened/killed several, requiring their removal. The survivors “shed” dead branches, mosts often as an immediate result of wind, but a medium size healthy tree fell onto the roof (fortunately no damage) and gutter (damage there) on a pleasant day with virtually no wind, and a large, roof damaging branch fell when the conditions were similar. .
Removing large trees and branches and the damage they can inflict is expensive. Much as I like what these big trees add in coolness during the summer and providing leaves for feeding the worms and enriching the soil and other benefits, when they incur costs (substantial) to remove and to repair the damage they can inflict (just like us homo sapiens), I do see why some folks don’t want big trees in their lots (big trees also visually diminish the commanding presence of the McMansions).
the biggest problem here is the ground cover called pachaysandra (sp?) you can see it surrounded the tree. it just sucks all the water and nutrients away from the tree. while it is nice becuase it makes your lawn care free it does hurt the tree.s
Well, at least the crushed house provides some new affordable housing.
Ground must still be saturated from the Donaldson Run flood of 2011.
I thought the press missed that event. How did you find out about it?
What kind of tree was it? Oak, maple, tulip poplar?
The tree shape and the bark suggest a tulip poplar. These were responsible for a lot of the damage (some very similar to this) in the microburst last summer. Older trees have few branches on the lower trunk, so nothing slows them down if they smash into a house.
Did anyone hear it?
Asked J Ponder twenty posts ago…
I live in Donaldson Run and have many large trees in my backyard…one 80-100ft chestnut oak tree is dead and is about 20ft from my house. I’ve had estimates to cut it down and all are 7-10 grand (depending if I want them to haul it away or not). Since I live on a steep decline overlooking the Run itself, I’m wondering if the County would notch it or cut it in a controlled directional fall so that it falls down across the Run and avoids other mature trees. Is this a completely absurd idea? Any suggestions? Although gravity is on my side, I fear gusty wind.
Shoot, give me $3000 and I’ll rent a chainsaw and do just as you suggested–fell it so that it comes down on the the Run.
Would you do it for a nice dinner? (and the cost of the chain saw rental of course). Hell, that’s about all I can afford these days.
For 10 grand I would buy a new Kia and ram the tree down.
insert Donaldson Run joke here