A 50-foot tree branch breaks off a pine tree in the 3500 block of Canehill Avenue Friday, Aug. 5. Photo by Thomas Cordova

A 50-foot tree branch broke off a pine tree early this morning, blocking off a small portion of a street in an East Long Beach neighborhood, fire officials said.

Long Beach Fire Department personnel were dispatched just before 8 a.m. Friday to the 3500 block of Canehill Avenue. When they arrived, they witnessed a massive tree branch that had fallen onto the street, LBFD spokesman Brian Fisk said. No injuries were reported.

Workers use heavy machinery to remove a 50-foot tree from the roadway in the 3500 block of Canehill Avenue Friday, Aug. 5. Photo by Thomas Cordova

It is not clear what caused the branch to snap off, but neighbors said they are worried the city is not maintaining the trees.

Tree health has been an ongoing concern for years among residents, especially in city parks. According to a city report from 2021, nearly half or 14,000 of the city’s 29,000 park trees are dead, diseased or dying—compared to 2016 when roughly 27% of trees were dead or in critical condition.

With drier weather becoming the new normal and a lack of funding in the city’s Parks, Recreation and Marine Department, trees often go untrimmed and are only removed on an emergency basis.

Nearly half of Long Beach park trees are dead or dying, report says