Crane Delivering Spa Topples on Buena Park Home

Debbie VanDieren knew that installing a spa at her Buena Park home wouldn’t come cheaply. However, she didn’t expect to lose half her house in the process.

But at 1:16 p.m. Tuesday, that’s exactly what happened as the crane that was lifting a new tile spa into her backyard toppled over and crashed through her living and dining rooms, nearly crushing her daughter and the child’s visiting friends.

“It’s unbelievable that no one was hurt,” she said.

The children were watching the crane from the living room when they “heard a sound that wasn’t quite right” and started running out, she said.

Shards of glass were found in some of the children’s hair after the crane’s arm came through the house, “much too close for comfort,” VanDieren, 30, added.

In all, six children were in the house, ranging in age from 2 years old to 8-year-old Amber VanDieren. Two other neighbors, mothers of some of the other children, were also inside during the accident.

The house at 8379 Mercury Drive had its entire south wing sheared off as well as losing a number of windows from the sudden compression. The VanDierens have lived there since April, 1983.

In addition to squashing the VanDierens’ living room, the crane damaged the patio cover of another house and tore down telephone and power lines, which started three small fires and disrupted electrical, cable television and phone services for hours.

Power outages affected the immediate neighborhood as well as Buena Park Mall and Knott’s Berry Farm, said Butch Cleveland, a battalion chief at Buena Park Fire Department.

The Dyke family, who live at 8299 Linden Circle--directly behind the VanDierens--lost a corner of their aluminum patio cover when the crane fell. Roxann Dyke said her three children were eating lunch in the enclosed patio when she heard a crash. “It kind of put a damper on their appetites,” she said.

She considered herself lucky that her children weren’t in the nearby swimming pool when it happened. “There were live wires all over the place,” she said.

Joyce Rodrigues, the VanDierens’ next-door neighbor, drove home from work when at 2 p.m. she got a dead phone line when trying to call home for her messages on her answering machine. “I thought my house was being burglarized, so I panicked,” she said.

Her home suffered minor damage when fallen power lines started small fires on her roof and in her backyard.

Dave Altchuler, 16, and Troy Visintainer, 15, witnessed the incident from across the street and said it looked as if the spa was simply too heavy for the crane’s arm, which was extended to nearly 100-foot maximum length.

“The arm just had too much pressure on it,” Altchuler said.

A representative of Nespa, the Gardena company installing the spa, was as surprised by the accident as everyone else. “They’re usually a very careful crane company,” Julie Nedelkow said of Action Crane Rental, the Long Beach company contracted to install the spa. “We deliver spas that are two and three times this weight.”

One Injury

Representatives of Action Crane had no comment.

The incident’s only injury came when the crane operator, witnesses said, fell through the windshield of his cab as the crane tipped. Steve Woffer was treated and released for an arm injury at Anaheim’s Humana Hospital.

According to Altchuler and Visintainer, Woffer tried to keep the crane from going over by dropping the spa but was too late. “It was going over,” Altchuler said. “There was nothing he could do about it.”

By 5 p.m., three more cranes, hired from Werner Corp. in Anaheim, sat on Mercury Drive, poised to hoist the fallen crane upright. And after an hour of preparation, the toppled crane--arm still fully extended--finally was pulled from the wrecked house, and the crowd of spectators began to dissipate.

For the VanDierens, though, it was just the beginning. The family planned to stay with relatives Wednesday night and has yet to face the task of rebuilding the house. Gerard VanDieren, 31, said he and wife Debbie consider themselves fortunate to have lost only their home.

“This whole thing could have have been really bad,” he said. “We’re very lucky.”