Watch: Rescuers Save Man Trapped By Fallen Tree In Echo Park

LOS ANGELES, CA — Firefighters in Echo Park managed a harrowing rescue of a transient trapped underneath a fallen tree that brought down energized electric wires and crashed through the roof of a nearby home. Though the man was trapped beneath a massive tree for nearly 30 minutes, he suffered only minor injuries.

The man was trapped underneath the massive hillside tree for nearly 30 minutes Monday morning before rescuers were able to free him and rush him to the hospital, a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman said. Crews used a chainsaw to cut a rescue patch and lessen the weight crushing the man.

Rescuers were called just before 8 a.m. to 1332 Laveta Terrace, said the LAFD's Brian Humphrey. The first firefighters to show up stabilized the trapped man, whose name was not released.

More firefighters, including those specializing in urban search-and- rescue operations, arrived to deploy a 50 ton-capable extended boom to lift the tree off the man, who "amazingly sustained only a minor injury" and declined to be taken to a hospital, according to Humphrey.

He said the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety was sent to assess damage to the duplex, where three residents were displaced -- a man and woman in a unit that was red-tagged, and a man who lives in the other unit, which was yellow-tagged.

The residents declined assistance from the American Red Cross, according to the LAFD.

"Though there has been rain and wind in the area, the LAFD does not formally determine the specific cause of trees toppling," according to Humphrey.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.