Arborist gets stuck in tree for 2 hours near Sebastopol

An arborist got stuck in a tree while working on a rural property near Sebastopol on Monday evening, hanging upside down about 60 ?feet from the ground for a couple of hours before local firefighters and tree companies rescued him.

The owners of the property, on the 11000 block of Barnett Valley Road, called authorities about 5 p.m. to report that a man who had been working on their trees got stuck, said Gold Ridge Battalion Chief Adam Schipper. The man was tangled in his ropes and bound to the tree, hanging upside down from his harness gear.

Firefighters from Gold Ridge, Sebastopol and Bodega arrived, as did a CHP helicopter and an ambulance, to rescue the man. Schipper said, however, that firefighters still weren’t able to reach him. Officials called two local tree companies, Fine Tree Care and Sandborn Tree Service, to help with the rescue because they had boom trucks that could reach the man. Schipper said the two companies performed most of the rescue, and officials were able to bring the man down from the tree by 7 p.m.

The man, whose identity has not been released, didn’t suffer any major injuries but was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, Schipper said.

You can reach Staff Writer Chantelle Lee at 707-521-5337 or chantelle.lee@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter? @ChantelleHLee.