MELROSE, MASS. (WHDH) - Two children and one adult were hurt after a tree toppled onto playground equipment at a school in Melrose Monday afternoon, police said.
Melrose police responded to the Winthrop Elementary School in Melrose just before 3 p.m. after a massive tree from a neighboring property fell onto a jungle gym. School officials said they sent out an email alert to parents saying there had been an accident on the playground, and several children witnessed the incident.
A second-grade student said she was watching from a school window as the tree crashed down at dismissal time.
“A crash, a boom,” she said. “I saw a kid on the monkey bars, and then the tree fall.”
The Melrose Mayor’s Office said two children and one adult were taken to local hospitals by ambulance. Officials have not released their conditions.
The tree that fell is on the property of the Upham House Museum next door to the school. The president of the museum’s board said the trees are regularly inspected.
“We take care to make sure the property is safe from dangerous trees,” said Eda George, President of the Upham Family Society. “We just had work done this last Friday. We had three trees removed.”
People who live nearby said the wind picked up just before the tree came down.
“We were in the backyard and the wind just sort of picked up,” said Nancy Glover, who lives in the area. “The wind really just picked up, it didn’t last long.”
Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office and Melrose police are investigating.
The school playground is off limits at this time.
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