{"id":876,"date":"2012-08-09T18:20:12","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T01:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/?p=876"},"modified":"2022-08-03T11:06:24","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T18:06:24","slug":"giant-oak-crashes-down-on-hampshire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/2012\/08\/09\/giant-oak-crashes-down-on-hampshire\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant oak crashes down on Hampshire in Thousand Oaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tree believed to be 400 years old falls near business<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source of this article: The Thousand Oaks Acorn<\/a>, August 9, 2012<\/p>\n

\n

A massive oak tree, estimated to be 400 years or older, collapsed in Thousand Oaks on Sunday outside a title and escrow company.<\/p>\n

The 50-foot valley oak fell on private property some time in the middle of the night in front of the company\u2019s office on Hampshire Road, causing no damage but creating quite a mess for employees to find when they returned to work on Monday.<\/p>\n

According to Rebecca Loving Nichols, Fidelity\u2019s human resources administrator, a large branch from the tree fell two weeks earlier. Worried another could come crashing down, the company contacted Jeff Melichar, the building\u2019s owner, Loving- Nichols said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was another branch nearly touching the ground,\u201d she said. \u201cI was concerned that someone could get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

TIMBER!\u2014A mighty valley oak came crashing down next to the Fidelity National Title & Escrow Co. building on Hampshire Road. No one was hurt and nothing was damaged, but employees were attacked by a swarm of bees living inside the giant trunk. Since the tree was on private property, there\u2019s no word yet if it will be replanted.<\/p><\/div>\n

When he learned of the tree\u2019s condition, Melichar, whose building also houses the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, roped off the area and contacted the city to apply for a tree-trimming permit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the city made it out on Monday (Aug. 6) to check on the tree\u2019s health, it had fallen over the weekend,\u201d Loving-Nichols said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, \u2018I guess your permit doesn\u2019t need to be applied anymore.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin Wilson, the city\u2019s landscape maintenance supervisor, said that, because of the tree\u2019s location, it is ultimately the property owner\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the tree is not located in the public service easement in a right of way area, it\u2019s typically considered to be a private property tree,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dave Mortimer, owner of Mortimer Tree Service, said the tree suffered from root rot disease, a slow and continuous decaying process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese large trees have the ability to live with decay for centuries. When they get this old, gravity takes over and they succumb to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The disease, which is not preventable, is hard to spot, Mortimer added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis disease doesn\u2019t affect the vascular system of the tree, (so) it looks really good until it falls down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mortimer, a certified arborist, said the tree\u2019s collapse uncovered two active beehives housed within its branches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were huge,\u201d he said of the hives. \u201cOne was 6 feet long and the other one was 3 feet long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fidelity employee Mary Mooney called the bees vicious. The insects swarmed the area until a pest company came out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were attacking everyone coming to the front door. We had to tell people to walk around to the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

But worse things could happen, Mooney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo cars or people were underneath (the oak)\u2014thank God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tree, which has been removed from the property, will be missed, Loving-Nichols said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brought such beauty to that side of the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a landmark, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever anyone called for directions, we\u2019d say, \u2018We\u2019re right by the big oak tree.\u2019 I hope they plant another.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tree believed to be 400 years old falls near business Source of this article: The Thousand Oaks Acorn, August 9, 2012 A massive oak tree, estimated to be 400 years or older, collapsed in Thousand Oaks on Sunday outside a title and escrow company. The 50-foot valley oak fell on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conejo-valley","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3687,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876\/revisions\/3687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}