SAN DIEGO — People living in Ocean Beach say danger is right outside their front doors. They’re worried about a dead, massive Torrey Pine tree, threatening to come down any time. That tree is on the 4600 block of Longbranch Avenue.
“I don’t wanna wait until somebody gets hurt for the city to do something,” said Carole Landon Stone.
In the 32 years Stone has lived on Longbranch Avenue, she's seen the tree change dramatically.
"It was a beautiful green tree and we felt lucky to have a Torrey Pine out the front door, and when we saw it turning brown, it just became very very frightening," said Landon Stone.
Not only is the tree dead, it's leaning over, putting cars, homes, and people in harm’s way. That's in addition to the tree's massive roots, which have already caused buckling and foundation issues along the sidewalk and roadway.
"We can always hear a big truck going down the street cuz it bangs like crazy going over the bumps," said Landon Stone.
The city has come out to monitor and trim the tree.
CBS 8 cameras were there for one of those visits back in 2019, which happened shortly after a similar sized Torrey Pine fell onto a rental home in nearby Point Loma, killing a couple visiting from North Dakota.
Landon Stone says the city was out again in 2021, but to her knowledge no one has been back since then.
She and her neighbors tried contacting the city through the ‘Get It Done’ app.
When that didn't work, they reached out to CBS 8.
"I am incredibly frustrated and I called you guys and I don’t know where else to turn, and I've seen you do things to help people in the community and I feel like no one is listening," said Landon Stone.
CBS 8 reached out to the city, and received this response:
"We are aware of this Torrey Pine and the city's Urban Forestry Team has been inspecting and documenting it for some time now. We believe this Torrey Pine, with a 45" diameter trunk, succumbed to various insects as well as a few too many dry winters. We did try and treat it for insects last year to no success and the tree is now selected for removal by the end of the year."
For Landon Stone and others who live in the area, that can't come soon enough.
"It seems unsafe and I would not want to be living right there that's for sure," said Michael Wall.
"It's just a very scary situation," said Landon Stone.
CBS 8 will follow the story again when the city comes out to remove it.
Watch related: Large tree falls, narrowly missing Coronado home (Aug 27, 2019)