20 Hurt at Disneyland as Large Tree Falls

A huge falling tree injured 20 people at Disneyland’s Frontierland on Friday, but none were seriously hurt, officials said.

Eighteen park visitors were taken to six Anaheim-area hospitals for treatment of abrasions and contusions, park spokesman Ray Gomez said. Five children were among the injured, he said. Two park employees with minor injuries were treated at the scene.

The tree toppled about 5:15 p.m. near the Rivers of America and the Golden Horseshoe Revue. Its fall was partly broken by a food wagon.

“It just crashed,” said Valeri Pineda, 18, one of a group of cheerleaders from Clinton High School in El Paso who were in line at the Golden Horseshoe.

“At first we thought it was a ride, because we heard people screaming,” said cheerleader Audrey Heredia, 18.

The incident was the latest in a series of accidents in recent years that have focused attention on safety at the theme park. Witnesses said park employees responded rapidly to Friday’s emergency. Frontierland was closed, they said, but the rest of the park stayed open.

“That area has been roped off until we can determine what caused the tree to fall and, of course, check the other trees in the area,” Gomez said.

Hundreds of people were turned away from Frontierland late Friday, and the 9 p.m. Fantasmic fireworks show was canceled, which disappointed Tim Wendl and his family, vacationing from Mount Vernon, Wash.

“We purposely extended our vacation to see this,” said Wendl, who was at the park with his wife and three sons. “It’s disappointing, and nobody would tell us what’s going on.”

Brian and Erika Hogge were celebrating their second wedding anniversary and were heading to Frontierland to ride the Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster when they noticed helicopters overhead.

“We were all ready to go until the tree fell,” Brian Hogge said. “Disney employees were everywhere. They were blocking the tree. We’re shocked, because you don’t expect a tree to just uproot.”

The tree was thought to have been in the park since it opened and was probably more than 40 years old. Gomez said weather may have been a factor in its fall.

“We had very high winds here yesterday. We certainly had some cleaning to do today, but there was no indication there was a problem,” he said.

The park’s landscape staff will inspect all the older trees in the park, Gomez said.

Disney officials said last month they would beef up emergency services by stationing city paramedics full time at the park, a plan that will cost them $1.4 million annually and speed response time.

Park officials announced April 19 that Disneyland Resort would contract with Anaheim to have four paramedics in three shifts around the clock at both Disneyland and the company’s new theme park, Disney’s California Adventure.

The paramedics, who began work Tuesday, serve the parks, Downtown Disney and the resorts’ three hotels, officials said. Under the contract, Disneyland pays for the emergency vehicles, all labor costs and most equipment expenses.

Those rescue personnel and paramedics from surrounding stations responded to Friday’s incident, Anaheim officials said. The park team was on the scene within four minutes, officials said.

The new plan is an offshoot of Disney’s recent expansion and part of an ongoing effort to streamline its emergency services, officials said.

In late 1998, a Washington state man was fatally injured and a park worker badly hurt on the loading dock of the Columbia sailing ship.

Last September, Brandon Zucker, now 5, suffered severe brain damage when he fell out of the Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin and was pinned beneath a car. In January, a 6-year-old girl lost part of a finger when it caught in a toy rifle on Tom Sawyer Island. The toy guns since have been removed.

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Times staff writer Kimi Yoshino and wire services contributed to this story.