'Hand-In-Hand' Operation Frees Long Island Woman From Under Fallen Tree Limb: Fire Dept.

PORT WASHINGTON, NY — An 89-year-old woman was freed from under a fallen tree that had pinned her to the ground in her Port Washington backyard on Friday afternoon in a hand-in-hand rescue operation, authorities said.

Port Washington police, along with Nassau police's Emergency Services Unit, responded to a Wakefield Avenue home at around 2:39 p.m., and saw that a tree had fallen and pinned the woman, who had been standing in her backyard, Nassau police said.

Port Washington firefighters were first alerted that a tree had fallen on a person, and later learned from police that it was a "significantly large limb" that had broken "from an elevated height" and trapped the woman, said Port Washington Public Information Officer Chris Bollerman.

Upon arrival, firefighters found that the limb had broken free from the tree, falling to the ground and "resulting in several parts of her body being trapped beneath the limb," said Bollerman, who was not at the scene but was later briefed by Assistant Chief Patrick Saccoccia.

"Due to the extremely unusual nature of the emergency and complexity of the extrication mutual aid was requested from surrounding fire departments, as well as the Nassau County
Police Department," Bollerman said.

The woman was eventually removed from under the tree with the fire department’s air-lifting and rescue airbags, according to Bollerman.

"On the scale of one to 10, this was very elevated," said Bollerman, who has 37 years with the department.

"I'm not going to say a 10, but I'm not going to say a five. It's not a common occurrence where we responded to the backyard of a home and the resident at home is pinned underneath a limb that's the size of a large tree."

"With many different variables to encounter, there was multiple agencies operating, so it was a very difficult operation, and multiple agencies did work well together to safely extricate [the woman]," he said.

The woman "suffered severe trauma" and was taken by ambulance to a landing zone on the south side of South Salem Elementary School where she was transferred to a Nassau police helicopter to North Shore University Hospital where she is listed in stable condition, authorities said.

A firefighter and a police officer also suffered minor injuries, Bollerman said. The firefighter sustained a head bump, but Bollerman could not be sure about the police officer.

There was a total of about 50 rescuers workingunder "a common goal," Bollerman said.
In addition to the Port Washington police and fire department, and Nassau police, altogether, five different agencies responded to the rescue, including the Manhasset and Roslyn fire departments, and North Highway Department's Tree Crew.

The fire department "worked hand-in-hand" with other agencies "to safely extricate this elderly resident of our community," Bollerman said.

"We understand that our injuries are non-life-threatening and she will be recuperating at the hospital," he said.

The investigation is ongoing, according to Nassau police.