Men hear snapping noise, then jump just as tree falls on Virginia patio, video shows

Two men lounging around a backyard fire pit were nearly crushed when a large tree fell across their chairs, security video shows.

Chris Johannsen of Powhatan, Virginia, revealed the narrow escape in an April 13 Facebook post, showing he and friend Chad Day were directly under the tree when it fell. Powhatan is about a 30-mile drive west from Richmond.

Click here to see the video, but be warned it contains strong language.

“Someone up there is looking out for me. Almost died last night,” Johannsen wrote.

“Still processing it all! Things could have been so much worse! The kids were outside with us 5 mins before that, they just went inside to watch a movie.”

It happened Friday, April 12, outside Johannsen’s home, as the two dads “were setting up to make s’more for their children,” WTVR reported. The tree was estimated at 40 feet in height, the station reported.

Video shows the men were in chairs by the fire pit when a mysterious cracking noise is heard.

The tree landed on the chairs six seconds later, just as the two jumped out from under it, the video shows.

“If we didn’t move, we’d be dead right now,” one of the men is heard saying.

The noise was enough to bring children pouring out of the house, including a girl heard crying for her daddy through the pile of debris.

Aftermath photos show the full weight of the tree landed on the chairs where the men sat. The limbs busted siding on the back of the home and shattered one side of the stone hearth.

The tree was rooted in a wooded area beside the home, and the entire root ball popped out as it fell.

Johannsen is heard blaming the fall on wind in the video.

This story was originally published April 17, 2024 at 8:31 AM with the headline "Men hear snapping noise, then jump just as tree falls on Virginia patio, video shows."