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Photos and info by Rita Reith
Significant injury and positioning made work difficult for responding crews as they worked to rescue a man who had been trimming trees and was injured by a falling 25-foot limb.
The limb was on the top portion of the tree the patient had been trimming at a family member’s home. About 16 inches in diameter, the limb broke free before the man had completed the cut and fell on top of him, causing serious injury. The man was self harnessed to the tree and had a ladder beneath him, but the serious injuries precluded him from getting down on his own.
Despite his severe pain, the man was able yell for help, and a neighbor ran to a nearby officer’s home to call 911. As continual assessment and several attempts for removal by firefighters were made to no avail, Indianapolis Fire Department (IFD) Tactical Team 7 and its high-angle rope rescue team was dispatched. Working quickly yet gingerly and without causing further injury to the man, rescuers secured him into an IFD Rescue Harness and prepared to lower him to the ground.
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Rope systems were deployed and ready for use. However, due to the severity of his condition, rescuers employed a stokes basket and the aerial bucket instead. Firefighter medics tending to the man during the rescue were able to offer him ALS measures to relieve pain and prepare for additional ALS measures if necessary. The man was brought down 1.5 hours after the original call to 911 was made.
RITA L. REITH is a battalion chief with the Indianapolis (IN) Fire Department and serves as the agency’s public information officer.
