For at least the third time in 2016, Seattle Fire Department crews were called to handle a situation involving a man in a tree last week.
But this time, the episode did not involve wall-to-wall media coverage or trending hashtags, and ended soon after it began without further incident.
More than 30 firefighters responded to Discovery Park late Wednesday morning (Sept. 14) after a man got stuck approximately 35-to-40 feet up one of the park’s trees.
According to fire department officials, crews were called to the scene just after 10 a.m. The victim had gotten his knee wedged in between branches — the department did not say how he got high up the tree in the first place — and was unable to lift himself out, requiring professional assistance.
Firefighters reached the man by extending a 55-foot ladder into the tree, and secured a patient harness around him to prevent him from falling. Crews used a hand spreader to part the branches closest to him enough for the man to free himself, and he was assisted down the ladder to the ground.
The man was offered a medical evaluation but declined it, and left the scene under his own power.
SFD crews closed the incident and left the scene a little before noon.
Last week’s incident comes on the heels of a well-publicized standoff in March, when a man spent nearly 25 hours in a tree in downtown Seattle. In May, that man was found not competent to stand trial for criminal charges, and was ordered committed to Western State Hospital for a 45-day evaluation.