Narrow escape

By Tania Martin
A MONBULK family is still reeling after a falling tree narrowly missed killing their dogs last week.
Anthony (Tony) Corbett is now calling for the Shire of Yarra Ranges to take action and remove several dangerous trees.
This comes as the Dandenongs was lashed by one of its worst ever recorded storms with winds up to 117 km/h.
But despite the shock of the tree cashing through their house, it’s not the first time that the Corbett family has been faced with such devastation.
Since moving to Monbulk in 1974, the Corbetts have had four trees fall on their house.
But the latest experience has left the family fearing the risk of another tree falling on their house with tragic consequences.
Mr Corbett said he was ‘fed-up’ with not being able to protect his family from the dangers of falling trees.
“We have been fighting for years for the council to let us remove a number of trees which are really dangerous,” he said.
“It’s not that we don’t like trees, we love them but it’s just the dangerous ones that need to be removed.”
Mr Corbett said the family was out when the tree fell and ripped apart the back patio, dog kennel and family room.
“It was lucky no one was home and I thank God the dog wasn’t in his kennel,” he said.
Mr Corbett has questioned whether it would take someone being killed before the council took action and allowed the trees to be removed.
The tree that fell down last week was from his neighbour John Williams’s yard.
Mr Williams said the tree that fell last Wednesday was one that he had requested permission to remove more than two and a half years ago.
“Council refused to give me permission to remove it and now it’s fallen on Tony’s house,” he said.
“If Tony and his wife had been home and in the living room they would have been killed.”
However, Shire spokesman James Martin said that if the trees were considered dangerous then the council would have approved their removal. Mr Martin said it was impossible to predict such bad weather or the impact that the recent storm would have.
He said anyone who was concerned about trees should contact the shire’s arborist to get an inspection.
Mr Williams said he hated the thought of taking out trees but that in some cases it was needed. “The trees are why we choose to live up here but some are just too dangerous,” he said.
There are several more trees in Mr Williams yard and one in Mr Corbett’s front yard that they are calling on council to assess.
The pair is now waiting for a council arborist to come and assess the trees.
However, Mr Williams said that if the council continued to ignore the dangers and refused to issue a permit to remove the trees he would be going straight to VCAT.
He said it was time to take action instead of waiting around for another tree to fall and this time kills someone.