CLARKESVILLE — A quick, organized response involving Clarkesville and Demorest firefighters is being credited with saving the life of a man in Clarkesville Tuesday afternoon.
Clarkesville Fire Chief Jerry Palmer said the man, whose name has not been released, was stranded some 60 feet up in a tree holding on with only his arms by the time firefighters arrived.
"The guy was going to make an attempt to cut a tree down," Palmer said. "To take the limbs off of it, he climbed the tree with a climbing deer stand, and had an electric chainsaw with him and was not secured to the tree.
"Somewhere near the top, which is around 60 feet, he cut an important limb ... and the climbing part of the deer stand kicked out and left him holding on with his arms," Palmer said.
Palmer said when Clarkesville Fire received the initial dispatch of the man being stuck in a tree at 205 Spring St., Clarkesville, they requested mutual aid from Demorest Fire Department in the form of personnel and their ladder truck.
When personnel reached him, he'd been hugging the treetop for some 10 minutes and was very weak.
"He was seconds from falling," Palmer said. "He was starting to slip, starting to lose his grip. We were able to get the ladder truck positioned very quickly, get it up in the air, get somebody up to him to secure him and get him back down."
Clarkesville Fire initially responded with an engine since they weren't sure the height of the tree where the man was stranded.
"We requested Demorest immediately, just in case it was too high and that really proved to be a very crucial decision," Palmer said. "We could not have reached him with any of our ground ladders — it wouldn't have even been close."
Palmer said the teamwork between his department's personnel and those from Demorest again was seamless and essential to the success of the rescue.
"This is another time when we couldn't have done it by ourselves," Palmer said.
Palmer praised the work of all personnel involved, from both cities.
"I know I speak for [Demorest Fire Chief Ken Ranalli], who was out there today, when I say how proud I am of the crews that were there today," Palmer said. "They stayed calm and maintained their composure, and because of it this man lived to see another day."
