# Ex partners' climber died on Tuesday



## crotchrot (Aug 7, 2010)

Don't really want to get into it. Just had to post this to the guys in the trees, be careful and don't take unnecessary risks in the heat. So sad

Tree service worker dies after fall in River Edge 
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 
Last updated: Tuesday August 3, 2010, 5:51 PM 
BY GIOVANNA FABIANO AND WILLIAM LAMB
The Record
STAFF WRITERS
RIVER EDGE — A tree service worker died Tuesday from injuries he suffered after falling 35 feet from a tree he was trimming at the corner of Elm and Wales avenues, authorities said.
Police officers arrived on the scene at 10:41 a.m. and found Baltazar Santana, 48, of Newark, who worked for Hardwood Tree Service in Upper Saddle River, lying on the ground and not breathing, Chief Thomas Cariddi said.
Patrolmen Marc Abate and Jack Connolly were able to open an airway in Santana’s neck until an ambulance arrived, he said.
Santana was taken to Hackensack Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just after 1 p.m., Cariddi said. Santana was trimming branches off a large tree in a front yard when he fell, the chief said.
A call to Hardwood Tree Service was not returned.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating, Cariddi said. 

RIVER EDGE — A tree service worker died Tuesday from injuries he suffered after falling 35 feet from a tree he was trimming at the corner of Elm and Wales avenues, authorities said.


NICK BRANDRETH / SPECIAL TO THE RECORD 
Officers arrived to the home at the corner of Elm and Wales avenues and found the worker lying on the ground and not breathing. Police officers arrived on the scene at 10:41 a.m. and found Baltazar Santana, 48, of Newark, who worked for Hardwood Tree Service in Upper Saddle River, lying on the ground and not breathing, Chief Thomas Cariddi said.

Patrolmen Marc Abate and Jack Connolly were able to open an airway in Santana’s neck until an ambulance arrived, he said.

Santana was taken to Hackensack Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just after 1 p.m., Cariddi said. Santana was trimming branches off a large tree in a front yard when he fell, the chief said.

A call to Hardwood Tree Service was not returned.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating, Cariddi said. 



Click here for more news from: River Edge, Newark,


----------



## pdqdl (Aug 7, 2010)

*Why he fell?*

I looked at the picture published with the story: http://www.northjersey.com/news/080310_Tree_service_worker_injured_in_fall_in_River_Edge.html

There is a modern looking bucket truck on site, but the tiny image looks like the bucket is hanging horizontally, as though something failed and he got dumped out of the bucket.

This would be a good argument for wearing your fall harness, guys!


----------



## treeclimber101 (Aug 7, 2010)

Wow 35 ft thats awful , there are alot of climbers getting killed lately hopefully God won't pull my card before my kids are grown and I have a little more time with my family ....Its a shame for everyone involved , I worked for a guy who lost of his ground men by a branch broken off the crane and he never was right again , he only did trees for another year or so than sold everything...


----------



## ducaticorse (Aug 7, 2010)

pdqdl said:


> I looked at the picture published with the story: http://www.northjersey.com/news/080310_Tree_service_worker_injured_in_fall_in_River_Edge.html
> 
> There is a modern looking bucket truck on site, but the tiny image looks like the bucket is hanging horizontally, as though something failed and he got dumped out of the bucket.
> 
> This would be a good argument for wearing your fall harness, guys!



Bucket looks proper to me..


----------



## treeclimber101 (Aug 8, 2010)

ducaticorse said:


> Bucket looks proper to me..



Or 35' from the ground , if it was my guess they either couldn't reach the tree on the right with the truck or the bucket operator probably watched the guy fall from the tree on the right ....


----------



## pdqdl (Aug 9, 2010)

I looked at it again with different resolution; I guess the bucket looks ok.

It is rather confusing with a white house for a background.


----------



## oldirty (Aug 9, 2010)

treeclimber101 said:


> Wow 35 ft thats awful , there are alot of climbers getting killed lately hopefully God won't pull my card before my kids are grown and I have a little more time with my family ....Its a shame for everyone involved , I worked for a guy who lost of his ground men by a branch broken off the crane and he never was right again , he only did trees for another year or so than sold everything...



stop being so morbid, man! we play a man's sport. we know the risk we take yet we do it on the daily....it is our choice, our gamble. we roll the dice doing what we love... sure it would suck to die but at lest we were free and in an almost unparalleled moment of truth in doing so.

rip, my fellow climber.

and stay safe the rest of you.


----------



## pdqdl (Aug 9, 2010)

Yes, this is a risky business.

Not too many trade-related websites have a fatality & injury forum. If we weren't already big risk takers, we wouldn't be in the business. I'm sure that is why so many of the part-timers are cops & firemen. They are risk takers also.

As I get older, I seem to be getting more risk-averse on the ground before I get in a tree, yet more comfortable with risky positions when I am in the tree. I wonder where that is going?


----------



## TimberJack_7 (Aug 16, 2010)

oldirty said:


> we play a man's sport. we know the risk we take yet we do it on the daily....iQUOTE]
> 
> 
> Nuff said right there.


----------



## tomtrees58 (Aug 17, 2010)

it looks like hes fallen out of the bucked


----------



## treeclimber101 (Aug 17, 2010)

oldirty said:


> stop being so morbid, man! we play a man's sport. we know the risk we take yet we do it on the daily....it is our choice, our gamble. we roll the dice doing what we love... sure it would suck to die but at lest we were free and in an almost unparalleled moment of truth in doing so.
> 
> rip, my fellow climber.
> 
> and stay safe the rest of you.



My kids didn't ask for me to be a climber , so with that being said I think it would be ###### for them to possibly grow up without a father, thats not morbid thats reality, and who are you to judge me and lecture me on life and a mans game, I have playing in trees and hanging off buildings since I was 17 so I know WTF is up at work ....And don't tell me that I should cool out either I love my work but I have seen some guys get hurt and now my cousins a vegetable from a fall ...


----------



## oldirty (Aug 17, 2010)

jees eddie lay off the sauce man... where was i lecturing in that post? your original post was read by me as you being a downer. if i misread that then so be it. 

sorry to hear of your cousin.


----------



## treeclimber101 (Aug 17, 2010)

oldirty said:


> jees eddie lay off the sauce man... where was i lecturing in that post? your original post was read by me as you being a downer. if i misread that then so be it.
> 
> sorry to hear of your cousin.



I don't drink .....


----------



## treemandan (Aug 17, 2010)

tomtrees58 said:


> it looks like hes fallen out of the bucked



Don't understand how that could be possible

RIP


----------



## treemandan (Aug 17, 2010)

oldirty said:


> stop being so morbid, man! we play a man's sport. we know the risk we take yet we do it on the daily....it is our choice, our gamble. we roll the dice doing what we love... sure it would suck to die but at lest we were free and in an almost unparalleled moment of truth in doing so.
> 
> rip, my fellow climber.
> 
> and stay safe the rest of you.



Ahhh! Just wait til you have a few lil buzzards of yer own.


----------



## oldirty (Aug 17, 2010)

treemandan said:


> Ahhh! Just wait til you have a few lil buzzards of yer own.



that'd be nice tman but i have a hard time keeping a bird around long to have her want to bare my offspring. although the newest has some legitimate potential........


----------



## crotchrot (Aug 18, 2010)

*Didn't fall from bucket*

Originally Posted by tomtrees58 
it looks like hes fallen out of the bucked 

Don't understand how that could be possible

RIP 

Still investigating how the climber fell. But he wasn't in the bucket truck when the accident happened. The picture shows that might be a possibility, however he was in one tree and the owner was in the bucket truck in the adjacent tree. 

Both workers where pruning the two oak trees when the owner in the bucket truck saw the 200T bouncing along the driveway and started calling for the climber....no answer. Because of his positioning couldn't see the entire work area so he asked the ground guys to check on the climber, there he was found on the ground.......I want to be careful and not go into too much detail for the sake of the family and charma.
After emergency CPR and the ambulance left my......let me just say this about the owner he is a friend of mine for 20+ unbelievable climber. so smooth--fearless---never rattled---horse---successful business. This guy never had a claim on his insurance. Believed in new equipment. Has it all....
Met each other at Sequoia Tree Service when we where 20 years old. This guy showed me not only how to work but the satisfaction and respect you get from working like that. Showed me so much about crane shots: weights,cuts, positioning, tree characteristics....all that crap. Friend ever since.
Strange how things happen----after the accident..examined climbers belt, the line was still attached to the side ring (not tied in). So he was ascending up the tree. Unsure why the chainsaw was bouncing along the driveway instead of be attached to his belt. Maybe...don't know


----------



## crotchrot (Aug 18, 2010)

*to the fallen climber*

Climber who lost his life--15 years experience, loved to climb trees (wanting to climb the first tree of the day). Great family man and father who is in a better place right now. 

God bless his family with peace and happiness


----------



## pdqdl (Aug 18, 2010)

crotchrot said:


> ...examined climbers belt, the line was still attached to the side ring (not tied in)...



Thanks for letting us know about this CR. I was really interested in how this one happened. I think your info is a pretty good clue. I would speculate that he might have been cutting in a "single tied" situation, but he almost certainly was not double tied.

Don't climb without tying in and using the equipment guys, and don't start the chainsaw without double tying! It just isn't worth the risk.


----------

