Tree collapses on Asilomar State Park building

UPDATED 1/16/2019 11:30 p.m.

A State Parks office building at Asilomar was crushed by a falling tree Wednesday.

It happened just blocks away from Asilomar State Beach and the Asilomar Hotel and Conference grounds in Pacific Grove.

The employees inside at the time were already gone by the time KION cameras got to the scene. A State Park ranger tells us they were shaken up, luckily though not hurt.

They heard a tree snapping but had no idea what direction it was coming from.

That tree crushed the front of the office building, where the supervisor’s office is. He got out just before the tree crashed through. It also nearly flattened a Chevy Silverado, belonging to the office.

Al Saxe lives just a block away from the Asilomar State Parks Office, he says he’s not surprised the accident happened.

“About six months ago a very tall Monterey pine fell on my neighbor’s yard and my yard and did about $30,000 worth of damage,” he said.

And though he lives with the possibility of a scene like Wednesday’s coming to his own front yard, Saxe says living in Pacific Grove makes it worth the risk.

“This really is America’s last hometown,” he said, “The people here are very special, they work together, they care about each other.”

PREVIOUS STORY: A tree collapsed onto the Asilomar State Park office in Pacific Grove Wednesday.

It happened on the 800 block of Crocker Avenue.

The tree collapsed onto one of their trucks and the left side of the building, but it crushed the front part of the office.

Supervisor Eric Abma and a few others were inside when they heard a loud crack. Luckily, they were able to make it out of the office before the collapse.

The building is now closed off, and PG&E is checking the area.