POWHATAN, Va. – Two men in Virginia enjoying a spring night and preparing to make s’mores with their families narrowly avoiding being crushed by a massive tree.
Security video captured Chris Johannsen and a friend sitting by their outdoor fireplace on April 12 at this home in Powhatan when the 40-foot tree came crashing down.
Both men quickly jump up upon hearing crackling and run to the right, dodging a potentially deadly hit. The tree landed on the two chairs where the pair had been sitting moments before.
“We almost died!” one of the men is heard saying.
The video shows debris from the tree floating in the air after the fall.
Moments later, you can hear their children come out after being startled by the noise of the falling tree.
“Dad, what was that?” one child says, followed by the exclamation of “Holy moly!”
Johannsen told Storyful that their families had been enjoying the fireplace about 5 minutes before the tree came crashing down.
“Luckily, [our] wives had gone to the house in front of us, and we had sent the kids in to watch a movie. We were getting a fireplace going to do s’mores for the kids. We were enjoying a nice glass of bourbon, when crack, crack, and boom,” Johannsen said.
Neither man was injured during the incident.
The weather was calm at the time of the collapse.
However, according to the FOX Forecast Center, nearby weather observations indicate some rain and winds up to 25 mph occurred earlier in the day.
About 40 minutes away near Richmond, a wind gust of 46 mph was recorded on April 12, according to the National Weather Service in Wakefield.
