Delicate operation to move branch off van

Firefighters were called to remove a large tree branch which had fallen on a van in Auckland's Cornwall Park yesterday.

A crew from the Ellerslie Fire Station were called to Pohutakawa Drive about 5.30pm to cut the branch off the Nissan Seneca.

Passer-by Jolyon Thompson sent a photo of the incident to nzherald.co.nz. He said no one was injured and it was not windy at the time.

"The tree was one that had branches growing right out from the base of it. One part cracked and slowly came down," Thompson said.

"The fire service used their ladder to help get to parts of the tree so that smaller branches could be cut off, to reduce the pressure on the car. The fire service were concerned that too much movement would cause the part of the tree still attached to the base to give way completely and the extra weight would crush the van and damage it.

"So it was a rather delicate operation."

The road was closed while the branch was removed.