Rescue not all to plan

[TimberMcPherson]

Man rescued from tree, chopper swings him into another
By DAN HUTCHINSON - The Press | Thursday, 22 February 2007

A Marlborough arborist with a broken leg spent 95 minutes stuck in a tree, only to be airlifted by rescuers straight into another tree, giving him more cuts and bruises.


Gavin Finch, 31, of Nelmac Marlborough, was topping a large pine overlooking Picton Harbour when a branch twisted and struck him as it fell yesterday afternoon.

Police, ambulance and fire officers were unable to reach Finch, who was halfway up the 40m tree, perched on a branch.

Nelmac manager Bob Boyes said it was decided to call the Wellington-based Westpac rescue helicopter to lift Finch out.

"He was topping some pines and one of the limbs – a real gnarly one – cut back on him and caught him on the leg. Just one of those things with trees; you get the odd freaky one," Boyes said.

However, as Finch and a paramedic came free of the tree, they swung sideways into another tree.

Finch suffered more cuts and bruises from that collision, Boyes said.

Helicopter crewman Dave Greenberg said it was not the perfect rescue, but conditions were difficult.

Strong winds, nearby wires and other trees made the rescue challenging, but it would have been even more difficult to rescue him from below, Greenberg said.

Finch was flown to Blenheim's Wairau Hospital, where he was being treated for his injuries.

 

[Castenea]

Topping a pine? I hope it had something to do with the wires that were mentioned. I hope he recovers and learns better practices and techniques.

 

[urbanlumberinc]

This story again reminds me of how woefully inept and ill equiped most fire/rescue services are for a tree rescue. I remember an incident years ago where a climber was hit by a falling limb and severly injured while climbing on a flipline and spurs. Of course the groundman had no climbing gear (it was all in the tree) The kicker was the fact that the tree was in a backyard with powerlines either near or through it. The fire dept was clueless and screwed around for hours with ladders and such before they got smart and called a tree svc. Long story short- guy lived (barely) and it WILL happen again.

 

[fast*st]

I think everyone here has a lot of valid points, I try to learn more
everyday. A suggestion perhaps. Our local FD here now and again
gets a presentation from an arborist on how to handle rope rescues
and what to do about someone stuck high up in a tree, including
using the services of an arborist and or calling for a crane. What
about volunteering to give a presentation and or make your services
available in an emergency?

The life you save might be someone you know.

... where's dat flameproof suit...

-Jason

 

[coydog]

check out the 'climber rescue' thread on the commercial/climbing forum for some, uh, ... "real interesting" points of view expressed on just that topic.

 

[OTG BOSTON]

I think everyone here has a lot of valid points, I try to learn more
everyday. A suggestion perhaps. Our local FD here now and again
gets a presentation from an arborist on how to handle rope rescues
and what to do about someone stuck high up in a tree, including
using the services of an arborist and or calling for a crane. What
about volunteering to give a presentation and or make your services
available in an emergency?

The life you save might be someone you know.

... where's dat flameproof suit...

-Jason

What town is that in?

 

[bigtreeguy]

Take a rope

I always take a rope with me climbing or even in my bucket truck. You never know when you might need it to rope a branch, or preform a self rescue. That guy could have repelled himself down within a couple minutes and saved himself a lot of anguish, as well thousands in taxpayer dollars.

 

[kiwi inpomyland]

hey bro was he topping for electrix?gav is ex treescape if its the gavin finch i know an experienced climber, if its for electrix they do transmission lines i used to work for them some years ago and its an accident waiting to happen!!

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Nelmac does do a fair bit of line work but I dont know if it was a lines job. I think they would have mentioned it in the article if it was.

 

[Jim1NZ]

Yea, a bit of a unlucky thing to happen. I cant believe there was no other arborist in the area who could bring him down?

Just goes to show we should never climb with out another competent climber on the ground.