2 teens killed in Yosemite when tree branch falls on tent

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — Two teenage boys died early Friday at a Yosemite campground when a large tree limb fell and crushed their tent.

Several campers in the Upper Pines Campground said they were awakened at 4:15 by a loud crack followed by a scream that pierced the predawn air. A branch from a forked oak had broken off and fallen from far above onto the tent where the boys slept.

Emergency vehicles arrived some 45 minutes later.

“I heard this loud bang and then a woman screaming at the top of her lungs,” said Daniel Moore, who was camping in the area. “I knew something was not right. I stepped outside to see what was going on and saw a lot of people clustered around their campground. It made me sick to my stomach when I figured out what had happened.”

The campers, whose names, ages and hometown were not immediately disclosed, were vacationing with family in the site near Curry Village in Yosemite Valley, said Scott Gediman, a park spokesman.

“Our thoughts are with the families as they grieve this tragedy,” park Superintendent Don Neubacher said in a statement.

By Friday night, the area had been cordoned off with yellow tape. A bouquet of pink flowers lay where the tent had been. Groups of campers stopped to take in the scene.

“I’ve been coming here since I was a baby, and I have never seen or heard of anything like this,” said Heidi Webb, who was in the park with her daughters and nephew. “It’s sad and tragic, but at the same time, it has to be a freak accident. Stuff like this just doesn’t happen normally.”

The last time it did was in January 2012, when a concession employee died when a falling limb struck his tent cabin.

Yosemite officials couldn’t say why the oak limb fell Friday. A U.S. Forest Service survey showed in May that more than 12 million trees in California’s national forests, including Yosemite, had died in the drought.

Moore, the camper, guessed the branch was brittle and had been knocked down by wind. He said he has kept his distance from the bears and coyotes he has seen over the years, but he has never been afraid of trees.

“You really don’t think about that sort of thing, but trees are pretty damn dangerous,” he said. “You always think of the critters first, but they’re not the only things out here that can hurt you. I can’t imagine how the family is feeling right now.”

August is peak season at Yosemite, where more than a half million people visit during the month. But in recent days the beloved park has had other bad news.

The bodies of two squirrels, dead of the plague, were found at the popular Tuolumne Meadows campground, prompting public health officials to shut down more than 300 campsites for five days starting Monday.

On Friday, park officials reopened Crane Flat Campground, about 40 miles to the west, after an unidentified child who visited in July tested positive for the plague on Aug. 6. The child is recovering, health officials said.

Crane Flat was closed for four nights as park officials treated rodent burrows with an insecticide to control fleas that carry the disease. Now officials have found more plague at Tuolumne Meadows and will also treat that area.

“The risk to human health remains low,” said Dr. Vicki Kramer, chief of the vector-borne disease section at the health department. She said officials are comfortable that waiting until Monday to shut down Tuolumne is safe and that the delay will help campers who have reservations this weekend.

Lizzie Johnson, Kurtis Alexander and Nanette Asimov are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. E-mail: ljohnson@sfchronicle.com, kalexander@sfchronicle.com, nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @lizziejohnsonnn, @kurtisalexander, @NanetteAsimov