Eau Claire tree trimmer pinned| energized 2 vehicles

Eric Frei · 25th June 2009, 09:18 AM

Rather unusual story.

The man is pinned 60' up by a rope that is tied to the top of the tree. But the top of the tree had steel cable tied to it (likely a pull line), and when the top was felled it landed on power wires ... and 2 vehicles that were securing that cable became energized.

What's weird is 2 vehicles attached to the one cable, maybe one vehicle was a redirect or something whilst the other tensioned etc.

Sounds to me like a very close call for all.

Tree Trimmer Pinned to Tree: Sent to Hospital with Minor Injuries - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

Quote:

Tree Trimmer Pinned to Tree: Sent to Hospital with Minor Injuries
Posted: Jun 16, 2009 1:12 AM

Eau Claire (WQOW) - An Eau Claire tree trimmer gets pinned on a tree and is then sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

At 4:04 p.m. Sunday, the Eau Claire Fire Department was dispatched to 1504 Moholt Drive for a person pinned in a tree approximately 50-60 feet off the ground. While enroute we were advised a person remains pinned and is injured.

Upon our arrival we found a male tree trimmer with his hand pinned between the tree and a rope tied to the tree top. A steel cable also tied to the tree top became energized when the tree top fell onto the powerline in the rear of the house. This inturn energized two vehicles being used to secure the tree top.

Xcel Engery was called to respond emergently to the scene. Fire crews determined the trimmer was secured to the tree with a safety harness and then cut the rope to free the tree trimmer in order to prevent serious injuries. In order to get the tree trimmer out of the tree Xcel Energy had to cut the power to the lines to de-energize hazards to the trimmer.

Once the power was shut down to the lines, fire department personnel assisted the tree trimmer down from the tree. He was then treated on scene for his injuries and transported to Luther Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Crews remained on scene till 9:10 p.m. Sunday night. Xcel Energy restored power to the immediate area.

At the time of this report, names of the parties involved were not available.

Bruce Hopf · 15th February 2010, 05:41 PM

Kind of a hard one to get one's head wrapped around. Is it possible, that there was a chain, or cable, between the two vehicles? Or maybe a pulley on the bumper of one of the vehicles, and the other to put tension on the cable?
Bruce.

15th February 2010, 05:41 PM	#2
Bruce Hopf Veteran Heritage Status Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: North of Sebringville, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,140	Re: Eau Claire tree trimmer pinned\| energized 2 vehicles Kind of a hard one to get one's head wrapped around. Is it possible, that there was a chain, or cable, between the two vehicles? Or maybe a pulley on the bumper of one of the vehicles, and the other to put tension on the cable? Bruce. __________________ McCulloch chain saws 1- Pro Mac 60, 1- Pro Mac 700, 2- Mac 10-10 Automatic's, 2- Mini Mac 30's, 2- Mac 110's, 2- Mini Mac 35's, 1- Mac 140 with Automatic Chain Sharpener, 1- Pro Mac 10-10, 1- Mac Cat, 2- Eager Beaver 2.0's, 1- Mac 1-10 Stihl chain saws 2- 044's, 2- 034's, 2- 024's, 1- 064, 1- 084, Strunk chain saws 1- Busy Beaver, 1- SpeeDemon Special Stand Back, I Have A Very Extreme Case of CAD (Chain Saw Addiction Disorder).

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