TREE FALLS ON WOMAN'S HOUSE

Maxine Breezeel had been thinking about having the oak tree on the east side of her house cut down.

But Thursday afternoon, the giant tree came crashing into Breezeel's house at 1952 Briarwood. She has lived in the house for about seven and a half years.

Breezeel and a friend were in the dining room at the back, west end of the house at about 3:45 when the tree fell into the house.

"She saw it, but before she could tell me it hit, and I said, Earthquake" Breezeel said. "But she said, 'No, Maxine, a tree fell on the house.'"

No one was hurt, but the house underwent extensive damage and is no longer safe for habitation.

Breezeel said she doesn't know what made the tree fall.

"It's a big, big tree. It came up by the roots," she said. "There was no wind."

Crews were at the house Thursday evening cutting and removing the smaller portions of the tree.

A crane was to be brought in today to remove the trunk.

"I'd rather it be at my house than next door," Breezeel said of the tree falling, indicating her neighbors on the east. Several people live in the home, she said, "and they would be all over the house."

She said she had gotten estimates on having the tree removed because she noticed bark falling from the trunk, even though the tree looked healthy.

Workers from one the services that gave her an estimate were in the neighborhood after the tree fell and were working to clean up the mess.

Breezel is worried about how much worse the damage will get as the tree settles into the house overnight.

"I hadn't planned on getting a new house, but it looks like I'm going to," she said.

She was also upset about damage to the landscaping at the front of her house, including some azaleas and a formerly thriving young, Japanese maple.

"I was so proud of that little rascal," she said.