BRUNSWICK — Rodney Easler was sitting in his truck at a windy job site in Somerville on Thursday, waiting for a coworker to show up, when he heard a crackling sound overhead.

He glanced up and saw a pine tree “was coming right at me” from about 30 feet in the air, he said. “I hit the seat pretty quick.”

The tree smashed into the top of the truck. There was “glass everywhere, limbs sticking through the windshield,” Easler said. “I didn’t know if I could get out. … I was very shaken up.”

He found his phone and called his coworker to see where he was, then rolled down the window and climbed out the passenger side window. An oak tree had also come down nearby. Easler credits that fallen oak with saving his life, as it prevented the full weight of the pine from crushing the truck. 

“It was pretty scary,” he said. “It happened quickly, I just had to duck and hope for the best.”

Easler is a carpenter for Wally J. Staples Builders, Inc. and has been there for about 11 years.

The truck was totaled, which Easler said he apologized for.

“It could have been much much worse, I’m so thankful he wasn’t injured,” Staples said, calling it a “miracle” that he left the site unscathed.

“This is the first time anything like this has happened to me,” Easler said. “I consider myself pretty lucky.”

hlaclaire@timesrecord.com