Friday, August 17, 2012

New Hampshire firefighters help rescue skydiver stuck in Maine tree

Rescue in Lebanon 
The Lebanon Rescue Department and Lebanon Fire Department work to get a skydiver out of a tree Thursday evening. (Courtesy photo)


 
Parachute in tree 
 The skydiver was around 50-60 feet in the tree. 
(Courtesy photo)

 
The skydiver, a man from Massachusetts, was stuck 50 to 60 feet in the air.
 (Lebanon Rescue Department) 


LEBANON – The Lebanon Rescue Department and Lebanon Fire Department were dispatched to Upper Guinea Road near Leone Way in West Lebanon on Thursday evening for the report of a skydiver who was stuck in a tree. The call came in at 5:46 p.m., according to a department press release. 

"When emergency crews arrived on scene shortly after the call was received, they located the skydiver from Skydive New England about 50-60 feet up a large tree," Assistant Chief Jason Cole said. "He reported no injuries, he was just a little shook up from the incident. We had requested a ladder truck from Milton, N.H. when the call came in, but due to the skydiver being about 200 feet off the roadway, it could not access them. I then requested a rescue truck from Rochester, N.H. Fire Department to respond with their high angle rescue equipment. Two Milton fire officers and a Rochester firefighter who have training in technical rescue scenes assisted with coming up with a plan on getting the skydiver out of the tree. Additionally, SkyDive New England also had a safety person on scene that helps with these type of rescues so it truly was a team effort."

A 24-foot ladder was placed against the tree and Milton Fire Chief Nick Marique climbed up and started cutting tree limbs so that the safety person from SkyDive New England could then climb the tree with his harness and ropes to rescue the skydiver, Cole said.

At about 7:30, the rescue climber reached the skydiver. Just before 8, the skydiver and rescue climber were both back down on the ground, with no injuries.

"In the 25 years I have been a volunteer in Lebanon, we have been called to maybe a dozen incidents where a skydiver was in a tree," Cole said. "With over 25,000 jumps annually done at SkyDive New England, that is a pretty amazing record. They go over a lot of safety training with each skydiver and they are taught what to do properly if they get in a situation like the male did today and he had to make a landing outside the landing zone. That safety training led to him not being injured. After being cut down, he was already planning his next skydive for tomorrow."

The skydivers jumped at about 13,500 feet today. The skydiver was a man in his 20s from Massachusetts. He is still a student and this was his approximately 10th jump. He was not in a tandem jump and was alone at the time of the accident.


Story and photos:   http://www.keepmecurrent.com

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