Brooklyn Heights family narrowly escapes falling giant tree bough

August 20, 2018 By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle

These photos show a giant bough of a honey locust tree moments after it fell near the Orange Street entrance to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade on Saturday evening. The bough narrowly missed a family strolling along the sidewalk. Photo courtesy of Beverly Closs.

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A family strolling along Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights narrowly escaped injury or worse at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday after a giant tree bough broke with a loud crack and came crashing down to the sidewalk.

A mom, dad and seven-year-old girl jumped out of the way when the father shouted, according to Heights resident Beverly Closs, who was walking with her husband Bill about a half block away from the incident.

“I heard a crackle, then a yell and then saw the big branch fall,” Closs told the Brooklyn Eagle.

“They just ran out of the way when the dad yelled,” Closs added. “He stayed and called 311.”

No one was injured, she added. Closs shared with this paper several pictures of the tree bough laying on the sidewalk on the west side of Columbia Heights.

The family did not want to be identified or pictured, but a photo shows them — including an adorable young girl wearing a black dress covered in tulle — staring in consternation at the tree while the father calls 311 on his cell phone.

The sidewalk where the tree bough fell, located near the Orange Street entrance to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, has now been blocked off with yellow caution tape.

The tree limb likely fell due to high wind, a Parks employee said.

“Parks inspected this otherwise healthy tree today and will be pruning it and clearing the fallen limb first thing tomorrow morning,” Parks Department Maeri Ferguson told the Eagle late Monday. “We do not have any previous service requests for the tree, which is a 21” honey locust in a fenced off horticultural area at the Fruit Street Sitting Area.”