Police have identified a woman who was killed by a falling tree branch in Capitol Hill Park after witnesses said they heard a “loud bang” before the branch fell.

Washington, DC police have identified the woman who was killed by a falling tree branch in a Capitol Hill park on Wednesday.

Sarah Noah, 35, of Southeast Washington, D.C., was struck and crushed by a branch that fell from a tree in Garfield Park just before 7:30 a.m.

According to the police report, three witnesses told D.C. police they heard “multiple loud bangs and people in the park ran for cover” before the branch fell.

Noah was reportedly walking his dog in the park when the branch fell.

According to the account of the incident in the police report, officers called to the park tried to move her limbs, but they were too heavy. DC Fire and EMS had to use chainsaws to amputate her limbs and remove them from above her. She was found unconscious and not breathing.

Noah, originally from New Hampshire, worked at Capital One in Washington for about six years, most recently as director of the company’s corporate strategy team, a company spokesman said.

“We are heartbroken. Sarah was a treasured colleague and friend to countless connections at Capital One, and we were blessed with her energy and contributions across many parts of the company over the past six years,” a spokesperson said in a statement to WTOP. “We will miss her creativity, passion, wit and endless positivity. The world has lost someone talented, compassionate and full of promise and potential. We grieve for her husband, family and friends, and with her.”

Noah is also a Pilates instructor at Reformation Fitness in Capitol Hill, where she has been teaching classes since 2021.

In an Instagram post, Noah was remembered as one of the studio’s “beloved” team members who had “incredible heart and soul.”

“Anyone who has taken Sarah’s classes knows that she is intelligent, incredibly creative, and often mistaken for a physical therapist due to her extensive knowledge of anatomy and movement,” the post reads. “Sarah was also funny and kind, and brought vibrancy and energy to the studio where she taught every Tuesday morning. This is a devastating loss for all who knew her.”

Official: “Shocking and tragic”

Officials with the D.C. Department of Transportation, which manages the trees in the park, called the incident “shocking and tragic” on Wednesday.

DDOT officials said the 100-year-old tree was recently inspected and rated “good,” which is essentially the second-best rating on a five-point scale ranging from “excellent” to “deceased.”

“This is an inherently unpredictable event,” said Earl Oitzler, deputy director of DDOT’s Urban Forestry Division. “The tree was professionally inspected and actively maintained, and the tree showed absolutely no outward signs that this possibility even existed.”

Workers later removed most of the tree, saying fallen branches had caused it to become unbalanced.

What DC can do to “prevent such incidents from happening again”

Charles Boston, an ISA-certified arborist and board member of the Community Urban Forestry Alliance, inspected the remains of the tree in Garfield Park early Thursday morning.

He said the North American Tree Climbing Championships, a tree climbing contest, was held in Garfield Park in October.

He said he had inspected the tree before the event to make sure it was safe to climb, but added that the incident could have been prevented if the tree had been trimmed more frequently to check how much of the roots had been neglected.

“Honestly, all trees should be covered in mulch,” Boston says. “Mulch has two functions in particular. One is to provide moisture on hot days like we’re having now. So, for example, if you watered your tree last week, it’s still moist because of the mulch. So you need to mulch it properly.”

Boston said the tree could have lived another 100 years if it had been properly cared for, and suggested the city plant less and focus on caring for the trees it already has.

“Part of the problem is that Urban Forestry can’t manage all the trees in the District of Columbia. Each agency has to manage their own trees. Just like DPR has park rangers, they need arborists,” Boston said. “Every program that DPR has should have a junior arborist program, so there would be more eyes and hands in the parks. That way incidents like this wouldn’t happen.”

Boston also released a letter he sent to D.C. City Council Member Charles Allen in December, warning of the poor condition of many trees across all boroughs.

“If time permits, I would love to discuss with you and the Environmental Commission ways to increase tree care, management and maintenance,” Boston wrote. “Furthermore, street tree planting is not being done properly, resulting in the premature and preventable death of many trees over the past decade.”

Since Noah’s death, Capitol Hill residents have written letters to Mayor Muriel Bowser, City Councilman Charles Allen and Ward 6 ANC committeeman Frank Avery. Neighbors say they’ve asked officials for years, and as recently as April, to prune the tree, which has lost branches.

“Following this morning’s tragic events, there have been several years of growing concerns, including a letter dated April 7, 2024 from 50 neighbors highlighting the need for urgent resolution of several maintenance issues, a 311 call requesting tree pruning that received a delayed response, and a request to facilitate pruning of a tree that had a broken branch today,” the letter read.

Neighbors are calling on officials to allocate funds for improved maintenance, meet with local residents and prepare a report on how drought and heat have affected the loss of branches.

Councilman Allen said he met with local residents about the issue in the spring and plans to continue doing so in the future.

“Climate change is impacting our community every day, in ways that you can see and in ways that you can’t see,” Allen said. “We need to get our urban forestry people to do their job and look at this tree so they can really determine what caused this tree to fall. But I think people’s concerns about the impacts of climate, about rising temperatures and what that’s going to do to our trees and our tree canopy are very real concerns.”

WTOP’s Abigail Constantino contributed to this report.

Sign up here to get the latest news and daily headlines delivered to your inbox.

© 2024 WTOP. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users in the European Economic Area.