PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Lake Oswego man and his family narrowly escaped with their lives when two huge fir trees fell on their home last Saturday.

Gavin McGrath and his wife Caroline were home when it happened. Their boys were down the street playing in the snow at a friend’s house.

According to McGrath, after the first tree fell, Caroline and a neighbor were out assessing the damage and a few friends were up on the roof attempting to take some of the tree’s weight off the house.

As the second tree was about to fall, McGrath — on crutches due to an ACL injury — instinctively dove into the kitchen.

“She ran to the yard and it took the whole house down on top of me,” McGrath told KOIN 6 News. “My buddy Bill and Matt were up on the roof taking some weight off the first tree when the second tree came down. So they either had to jump or, they got lucky up there. They didn’t get crushed.”

McGrath said it was a shock.

“I’m just glad I’m here,” he said. “I’m glad my kids were down the street sledding and my wife was out of the house. Makes you think about, you know, material things don’t matter. Your family is what matters. Just happy that we’re all here.”

However, the impact completely destroyed the home and the McGraths have had to rely on the kindness of friends and neighbors for temporary places to stay.

“A couple other friends took us in right away which was really helpful,” he added. “And then we had at least 20 people come and help us get just material, just clothes and stuff that we could find.”

McGrath offered up a suggestion to the city to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.

“Maybe start planting trees and letting them grow and then removing these huge trees because they’re gonna keep coming down,” he said. “The taller they get, the more likely they’re gonna come down.”

“I love trees, too,” he continued. “But once they get too large for the area they need to be safely — not on my house.”