Man trapped by palm fronds rescued by Tucson Fire Department

Tucson, AZ – A man in his 40s performing routine trimming on a palm tree became trapped after the fronds collapsed on top of him. The Tucson Fire Department received a call around 7 AM that a man was trapped in a tree. After responding to the scene two firefighters climbed the fire truck’s ladder to find the man stuck underneath thousands of pounds of palm fronds.

Video footage shows the man falling after firefighters cut away the fronds. Luckily he was supported by a cable attached to the fire truck. The man was able to pull himself back up and safely climb down a ladder under his own power. He did not need to be transported to the hospital. The entire incident lasted 30 minutes after the initial call made to the Tucson Fire Department.

Last Friday #tucsonfiredepartment taught and trained on palm tree rescues. Today, that training paid off with the victim of this palm tree rescue walking away. This video will be used in future palm tree rescue training as we are always learning. #staysafetucson #rescue #goodday pic.twitter.com/lJtXxOauLB

— Tucson Fire Department (@TucsonFirePIO) April 18, 2018

The victim works by himself in the area and had on all the necessary equipment but told firefighters he “made a mistake” and “put himself in that scenario”. The man was able to walk away safely from the incident and was back working on the same tree later Wednesday afternoon.

TFD is not identifying the tree trimmer, saying he has declined interview requests.

For more information; http://www.tucsonnewsnow.com/story/37990470/stuck-in-palm-tree-tfd-rescues-trimmer

https://www.kgun9.com/news/local-news/firefighters-rescue-man-trapped-in-palm-tree

http://www.fox13news.com/news/video-shows-daring-palm-tree-rescue-of-tree-trimmer

https://patch.com/arizona/tucson/watch-tucson-fire-department-rescue-man-palm-tree