The rope swing on the Snoqualmie River near the Fall City’s popular put-in point, Plum 1, is no more. Fall City Fire Chief Chris Connor cut it down himself last week, for public safety reasons.

“This has been a problem for a number of years,” Connor said earlier this week. “We’ve had a few people that have hurt themselves.”

Later that weekend, the tree itself came down, but not by his, or his department’s doing.

“The only thing I did was cut the rope, about 10 feet above the water,” Conner said.

The popular swing is on private property, often used by recreational river floaters, without permission. People have fallen from the rope onto the rocks along the river’s edge, sustaining some major injuries including broken bones, Connor said. He estimated this float season has already resulted in six to 12 calls to the river, about half of them to the swing site.

So late last week, with a warm weekend forecast in mind and the property owner’s permission, he used a pole pruner to sever the rope.

“It’s the same tree, the same rope swing, and it’s not the first time I’ve cut it down,” he said.

According to a reader’s news tip, an unknown man using a chain saw cut down the tree itself Friday evening, around 8:15 p.m., then left the tree in the river.

Connor said he didn’t know who cut down the tree, adding that he’d been working with the property owner to safely, and legally remove the tree.