LOWELL, Mass. - A man who was cutting the limbs from a tree behind 43 St. James St. is believed to have fallen at least 30 feet to the ground at around 5:40 p.m. Saturday.
The man, who was first reported in a Lowell police radio broadcast to be unconscious but breathing, was talking to emergency crews as they loaded him into an ambulance approximately 25 minutes after the fall.
A MedFlight helicopter was called to transport the man to a hospital in Boston, according to police. His identity and his medical condition were not available as of press time.
St. James Street residents who lived nearby the scene said that they had heard chainsaws coming from the property the past couple days. One woman said she had seen a man attached to the tree by a tether earlier in the day Saturday.
A member of the Police Department said that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had been called to investigate the incident, as the work being done on the tree was being carried out by a private contractor.
===============
LOWELL (CBS) — A man trying to trim a tree in Lowell has been sent to the hospital after falling about 30 feet to the ground.
“It was just terrible I mean I was just, you know, ya know frightened for the guy,” a witness said.
Frightening is the word. A tree worker in Lowell somehow fell about 30-feet from a tree he had been hired to trim.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene on St. James Street, put him into an ambulance, and took him to the hospital.
The scene shook up the neighbors.
“When I saw him being brought into the ambulance, he didnt look well. I mean, he looked like he was just, you know. His eyes were open, but he just didn’t look well.”
WBZ-TV’s Jim Smith asked, “Kind of looked out of it a little?”
“Oh yeah, definitely,” the witness said.
At the top of the tree you could see what looked like a tether or some type of harness still hanging from a limb.
Tree from which the tree cutter fell. The harness is still on the tree. (Photo credit: WBZ-TV)
Later, another worker removed some equipment and police also took away some materials.
National Grid briefly came to the scene because they have some equipment nearby. But they say they victim is a private contractor hired by a resident to do some tree trimming. The victim, they say, does not work for National Grid.
Police will now investigate what went wrong.
“Accidents happen, course it was raining out and the tree was wet,” another neighbor said. “That had a lot do with it too.”
The man’s name is not being released and his condition is now known at this time.