A family of five, including a pregnant mother, is thankful to be alive after narrowly avoiding being crushed by a big tree on Vancouver’s west side. The family had just completed parking on the street to see friends at 5:30 p.m. when they heard a few cracks from the trees and saw branches and debris fall on four automobiles nearby.

When the force of nature hit, Davina Milton and four family members were in one of those automobiles. “We pulled over here and I heard a couple of cracks coming from the tree, and before we could do anything, the whole tree simply fell on our vehicle,” Milton said.

The event drew the attention of spectators, including Shlomo Gabay, who contacted 911 while his dinner companions were trapped in the tree collision. “The whole thing came crumbling down,” he claimed. “These two trees literally intertwined, and then I heard a big boom, and the entire thing came crashing down.”

Meanwhile, Milton and her family were feeling confined in their automobiles since they couldn’t get out and had to wait for help. “We couldn’t get out because all the windows were covered with trees and we couldn’t move,” she said.

Soon after arriving on the site, firemen rescued the family of five by cutting off the front windshield of the vehicle and using chainsaws to remove the debris concealing it. Milton and her family, including her pregnant sister-in-law, are grateful to be alive and well. “Knowing you’re imprisoned and can’t get out is extremely unsettling,” Milton recounted.

According to Asst. Chief Ken Gemmill of the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service, the survivors’ escape was nothing short of a miracle, and the firemen advised them to purchase a lottery ticket. “Thank God like everything, the baby everything’s OK,” Davina Milton added. “It’s a wonder that we’re all alive and that no one has been wounded.”