Young boy killed by falling redwood in Sonoma County identified as Aeon Tocchini
SONOMA COUNTY -- The toddler who was tragically killed in Occidental Wednesday when a redwood tree came crashing down on a home has been identified by his family.
The boy was identified as two-year-old Aeon Tocchini.
According to officials, the incident happened when a falling tree smashed into a mobile home in the community of Occidental around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday evening. According to reports, the tree fell directly on the young boy.
"One of our major incidents was a redwood falling into a house up on Joy Road and we had a fatality up there of an infant," said Chief Ronald Lunardi of the Occidental Volunteer Fire Department. "There was a husband, wife and the baby in the residence."
"When I first arrived on scene, a frantic father came out of the house holding the child. he was covered in debris and said: 'My child is not breathing.' We are in a rural location, so my first thought was to get him into my truck and let's get him out to the main road," the chief went on to say.
The chief, who was one of the first people on the scene, said the tragedy hit close to home for a lot of first responders.
"Any time you have a situation like this, people's emotions are a lot higher. A lot of people in our department have kids that age," said Lunardi.
He said that the parents were not injured.
A GoFundMe page set up by family members said that Aeon was known as "Goldie" and loved music and the outdoors. The parents -- Dan and Aisha Tocchini -- have described the young boy as "the light of their life."
The campaign has already raised over $62,000 of its $100,000 goal.
Lunardi noted that the storm caused a significant amount of damage in the area.
"This is up there with storms 20-30 years ago with the trees down," he said.