9-Year-Old Boy Saves Sister When 200-Year-Old Oak Tree Splits In Half, Crashes Into Vancouver Home During Snow Storm

Brady McMullen, 9, is being dubbed a hero for his quick-thinking that saved his sister’s life, as well as his own. According to KPTV, schools in Vancouver were canceled on Wednesday, January 11, due to the snow storm, and Brady and his 7-year-old sister, Lainey, decided to play games in their living room.

However, the day of fun that the children – who were dressed in their pajamas – had planned suddenly turned tragic when they started to hear a rumbling sound, which sounded like an earthquake. Within seconds, a 200-year-old oak tree came crashing into the McMullen’s home.

“The roof was breaking,” Brady said. “I started to hear crashing and snow and branches falling on the roof little by little.”

He went on to say that during that moment, he looked at his sister and she was just staring at me, like “we got to go.”

Brady was sitting on the couch when it happened and his sister was sitting on an ottoman. He reportedly grabbed his sister and ran towards the entryway where they met their parents, who were just waking up.

The father, Tom McMullen, stated that he realized how lucky they were when he saw the aftermath.

9-year-old Vancouver boy saved sister from falling tree during snowstorm https://t.co/aOMz5AwY2h #pdx pic.twitter.com/F31KEQehlG

— PDX News Now (@pdxnewsnow) January 13, 2017

Brady’s quick-thinking saved his sister because according to Tom, “One of the tresses just popped out of the nails and just came down like a guillotine. It was puncturing the ottoman where they were sitting, so it could have been – it could have been pretty bad.”

If the Vancouver boy wouldn’t have grabbed his sister and ran to safety, Lainey could have been seriously hurt or worse.

“I’m just super proud that he, in those couple seconds, just grabbed her and ran,” said Tom. “I’ve just never seen a tree this big split in half.”

“It just happened in a flash,” Brady said.

The father went on to say that the incident was “traumatic,” adding that “you wake up and they’re screaming, my wife was screaming, so I just started screaming and I just thought the worst.”

“We yanked the front door open and the neighbors were there, we tossed the kids to the neighbors and then we got out with what we could.”

The McMullen family stated that the trunk of a 200-year-old oak tree, which was in their back yard, split down the middle due to the weight of the snow, and it crashed into their home. The other half of the oak tree landed onto a “neighbor’s shed across the back fence, crushing it.”

It was reported that someone, whose name has not been released, was inside the shed when the oak tree fell on it, but they were able to make it to safety with a few scratches on their face.

After the tree fall, which was caused by the snow storm, the McMullen family are not able to live in their home as the fire department stated that it is not safe for the family since “there is so much weight on the home, the ceiling and walls are cracking in other rooms.”

They are now living with relatives until their home, where they have lived for six years, is repaired, but the family is not sure when that will be.

A family friend, Ric Lewis, created a Go Fund Me page and they are “hoping to raise enough money for the McMullen’s to get back on their feet and start rebuilding their home,” according to the site.

“Tommy spent years in the Navy defending our country, helping to make it safe. We are asking for your help in giving back to him and his family in order to help them feel that safety and security he worked so hard at giving to us. Anything helps, God bless.”

[Featured Image By Spinout/iStock]