Chaotic moments follow at Brush Creek Montessori; trapped child had broken leg

A pine tree toppled into a sandbox where children were playing Thursday at Brush Creek Montessori School in Santa Rosa, trapping and injuring a 5-year-old girl.

Ten other children and two teachers ran to safety across the school yard, escaping the falling branches.

"They heard the tree crack and the teachers yelled 'run!' " said Susan Cohn, the school's director. "They were pulling children out of the sandbox but one child was trapped under a limb."

That girl, who was not identified, suffered a broken femur and was flown via air ambulance to Children's Hospital in Oakland, emergency personnel told teachers at the school. Her mother declined to comment.

The pine tree was rooted in the yard of an adjacent home. Cohn said she had been in contact with the neighbor because of the size and age of the tree and had asked that it be cut down. The resident was not at home Thursday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.

Cohn said 11 children were playing outside Thursday at 1:30 p.m. when the tree fell. Four of the children were in the playground's sandbox, directly in the tree's path.

"It hurted everyone," said 4-year-old Ruby Knerr. "I heard the crack and I was wondering what it was, then I turned my head and the tree was falling down."

"I was running but I still got dust in my eye," she said.

As the dust settled, students and teachers gathered at the far side of the youngest children's playground, attached to one of four separate classrooms on the school's campus.

Parent Ursula Kremer, who removed the girl from under the tree limbs, said parents and teachers flooded the playground in the moments after the tree fell.

"It was hard to see what was happening," Kremer said. "The kids were screaming and all the parents and teachers were running. There was a big cloud of dust."

While others corralled the children, Kremer said she and another parent helped the trapped girl.

"That little girl was screaming, which was a good thing," said Kremer, who has emergency medical training. "She was in the branches, bleeding from the nose."

Kremer said she knew the girl did not have a head injury because she was moving her head and decided to remove her from the branches.

The girl's leg was already swelling, Kremer said.

"I knew immediately to put pressure on it, to relieve the pain," she said.

Remaining students were moved to a classroom while their parents were called and notified of the incident. Many parents, hearing the news, came early to collect their children.

Cohn said today's classes will be held in another classroom and she hopes the tree will be removed over the weekend.

"When the children come back on Monday we don't want any reminder for them," she said. "They are all very traumatized.".