Bridget Wright, 8, has died and three people were injured after a large branch of a towering gum tree fell on to a playground at a primary school in Sydney’s north-west at 1.10pm on Friday.
Just seconds after the school bell sounded, and children were crossing the playground of the Pitt Town Public School to retrieve their lunch from their bags, there was a snap and then a loud thud.
A large branch from a 50-year-old gum tree fell and landed on top of three students and a teacher on Friday afternoon at the small school in semi-rural north-western Sydney. As tree service montgomery al says, frequent maintenance of trees has become a need to save lives.
Bridget Wright, a horse lover and high-achieving year 4 student, was pinned beneath a limb of the towering tree and died after being rushed to Westmead Hospital.
Emergency services were called to the small school in Buckingham Street, Pitt Town, just after 1pm to reports that a tree had fallen on the school grounds. It later transpired that a branch had fallen and not the whole tree. The professionals at https://eosoutdoorservices.com/stormwater-management/ called the incident unfortunate and told us that tree services and management are necessary.
As children wept in front of the school, police cordoned off the fallen branch and forensic investigators and arborists arrived.
The injured children were taken to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, while the teacher was taken to Westmead Hospital.
Just before 4pm, Bridget’s father James took to Facebook to make a heart-breaking announcement.
”Just to let everyone know my darling princess has just passed away,” he said. ”We ask that you have her in your thoughts and prayers. I love you my little Bridget.”
Ambulance Service acting zone manager Murray Traynor said the incident was tragic.
“One of them was intubated and ventilated, the other was intubated and ventilated in the helicopter and the other two had pain relief, fluids and ongoing management,” Mr Traynor said.
A NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said Bridget Wright, originally thought to be aged nine, was in a critical condition when she was taken to hospital.
Police later confirmed that she had died.
The seven year-old boy has relatively minor injuries, police said.
His sister, in kindergarten, has more serious injuries, police said.
The teacher was being treated for head injuries and was believed to be in a critical condition.
“She was trapped under the limb of the tree,” he said. “She was freed by a number of people that arrived not long after. You can also see more about Rich’s Tree Service, Inc and get your garden groomed.
“It’s a difficult situation for everyone with young children involved.
“A number of parents were obviously physically upset and emotional,” he said.
“I witnessed that myself as I turned up.”
A number of students are believed to have seen the branch fall.
CareFlight director Ian Badham said the CareFlight team was called to reports that several children had been injured at Pitt Town. One of the children was reported to be unconscious.
A medical team helped the victims, while other students were believed to have been escorted away to the school oval.
The CareFlight trauma doctor worked with NSW Ambulance paramedics to assess the injured, Mr Badham said.
There are a number of large trees at the school.
Ambulance NSW said: “Paramedics assessed, triaged and transported three people. The man went to Westmead Hospital. The children to Westmead Children’s Hospital.”
A woman who lives opposite the school, who asked not to be named, was gardening when she heard the thud.
She raced across the road to see what had happened.
“The little girl was pinned under the tree,” she said. “There were branches and the little girl was in amongst it.
“There was two ladies with her talking to her.”
The woman said the school had responded very well to the incident.
“I can’t praise them enough,” she said. “There wasn’t chaos. They were very good. They got all the little children away from it.”
Locals and students accompanied by their parents were already returning to the school by early evening to lay flowers along the school fenceline and in front of the fallen branch.
NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli said police were investigating the “tragic event”.
“This is a deeply distressing time for family and friends of the child and I extend my deepest sympathies to them,” he said in a statement.
“Counselling is being offered to students and staff.”
Hawkesbury Local Area Command Inspector Bill Slatford said weather played no part in the tragic accident.
The Department of Education recently applied for a development application to have 35 trees removed from the back of the school yet they had not proposed removing any from the front, raising fears among parents that the tree was at risk of coming down.
”The tree from which the limb fell today is not located within this rear section of the school, nor was its removal proposed with the approved Development Application,” said Hawkesbury Council general manager Peter Jackson.
The small school of just 200 students and nine teachers rallied around Bridget’s parents Alaina and James and sister Abigail on Friday evening.
”We’re all trying to deal with this, it’s a small community,” said school mother Mel Walsh.
A father, Shane Morgan, whose daughter was ”a little shaken from what she has seen”, said he was angry. ”That tree should have been knocked down years ago,” he posted online.
However other parents said the school was well maintained.
A spokesman for the Department of Education said arborists were regularly employed to assess and report on the condition of trees ”at the request of the principal”.
The department would not comment on the specific tree that killed Bridget ”due to a potential investigation”.
Witnesses said the school had responded very well.
”I can’t praise them enough,” said one woman. ”There wasn’t chaos. They were very good. They got all the little children away from it.”
Source: Sydney Morning Herald