OCEANA COUNTY, Mich. — Several agencies responded to Camp Ao Wa Kiya in Benona Township for a tree that had fallen onto a cabin around 2 a.m. on Thursday morning.
Michigan State Police said there were 12 campers comprised of third, fourth, and fifth-grade girls, and two camp counselors inside the cabin.
One camp counselor was pinned in her bed by the fallen tree, while all others inside were able to leave the cabin safely.
The Shelby-Benona Fire Department was one of the agencies on the scene and said it took 60 minutes after arrival to safely lift the tree and get the counselor out safely.
On Thursday afternoon, Camp Ao Wa Kiya said she is uninjured and is back to enjoying camp with her students.
"It's just a big praise the Lord," said the camp's Executive Director Mike Deen. "Just the fact that God was watching over all of those students, those leaders that were in that cabin with those students and that they were under God's care the entire time and he took care of them. That was my sense of relief and a sense of peace as well."
While both the camp and responders are unsure of what caused the tree to fall, Deen said they are in communication with their insurance provider for the next steps.
He said the students and counselors have all been checked for any possible injuries and are being housed in a different building while resuming normal camp activities.
"The first responders and our emergency services did a fantastic job, maintained a safe environment and were very confident in being able to accomplish what they needed to do," said Deen.
Brian Hintz, the lieutenant at the Shelby-Benona Fire Department, said when they arrived their first course of action was to check for any injuries before working on getting the counselor out from under the tree.
Hintz said they then had to work on lifting the tree from the counselor while making sure nothing else would collapse on top of her or cause further injury.
"Even a few more inches in any direction could have been more significant and really injured her," said Hintz.
He said it was "amazing" the counselor made it out with no injuries.
Hintz also gave credit to the teamwork between the agencies who responded to the call and Eagle Towing for coming to use one of their tow trucks to help lift the tree.
"We train for a lot of different things," said Hintz. "But this is kind of one of those things that you just have to reach in."
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