A large tree split and fell during some high winds Tuesday night on Forest Ave in Greenfield damaging the porch and tearing the utility lines down. The home owner, left, talks with the fire department and building inspector.
A large tree split and fell during some high winds Tuesday night on Forest Ave in Greenfield damaging the porch and tearing the utility lines down. The home owner, left, talks with the fire department and building inspector.

GREENFIELD — A gust of wind caused a tree to split in half and tumble onto a home on Forest Avenue on Tuesday night.

A neighbor heard the crash while cooking dinner, looked outside her window and was startled by what she saw. A maple tree had slammed onto her next-door neighbor’s home at 35 Forest Ave. The tree hit the power lines, ripped the storm drain off and and landed on the porch roof.

“We heard it. There was a little bit of wind, then a crack and a boom,” said the neighbor who called the police, Michele Hunting. “It was an amazingly large branch that fell. It just cracked right off.”

According to Greenfield Fire Captain Kyle Phelps, the building inspector came to check the structure of the single-family home and to advise the homeowner of any needed repairs. The power company also arrived at the property to restore power to the house.

The building inspector arrived shortly after the fire department, just after 6 p.m. The property owner, Elaine Therrien, was not home at the time of the incident. When she drove up to her property, she saw two fire trucks and panicked.

“It’s not the best thing to come home to after a long day,” said Therrien, who works as a business consultant in Springfield. “I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ there is a fire truck right next to our house.”