A 5-year-old girl and her father were hospitalized when a thick tree fell on them on a playground in Santee, San Diego Sheriff's Deputies said.
The incident happened at 2:34 p.m. Saturday at Big Rock Park on the 8100 block of Arlette Street.
Witnesses said they saw the man push the child out of the way as the tree fell down, landing on him. He was not trapped under the tree, deputies said.
Witnesses on scene said the strong winds were to blame for the collapse of the tree.
Santee Fire Battalion Chief Chief Stuber said the winds were 20 to 25 miles per hour at the park, not counting gusts.
"We've had some solid winds all day," Stuber said. "Unfortunately, this is when trees fall."
Parents at the park Saturday said the park was abnormally windy.
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"It's so loud...with the rustling of the trees, I could imagine it was difficult to actually hear anything falling down," Jesperson said.
"It was completely out of the ordinary," he added.
Jesperson commended the father for his actions.
"Obviously if that were me, I'd try to do the same thing in that situation, push the kid out of the way," said Eric Jesperson, a parent.
Both the child and the man suffered minor injuries and both are expected to be okay. They were taken to Sharp Hospital.
"This is one of those rare situations that we had a lot of children in the area...everyone's on break and playing and having fun post holidays and unfortunately a tree fell," Stuber said.
No further information was immediately available.
