LAKESIDE, Calif — A man who fell from a tree and landed on a daggered fence at a mobile home park Tuesday morning was rescued alive by firefighters in Lakeside.
"It hurt me looking at him," said neighbor Roger Buck.
Roger and his wife Karen Buck found the maintenance worker dangling from the fence after hearing his calls for help.
"He was a good two or three feet off the ground and he was pretty much hanging there," Roger Buck said. "I held him up as long as I could."
Lakeside Fire Protection District received a call from the 13600 block of Highway 8 Business in Lakeside with reports that a man needed to be rescued.
"Someone being impaled on a fence. I've heard the calls but this was actually my first one in a little over 30 years in being in the fire business," said Jeremy Davis, battalion chief at the Lakeside Fire Protection District.
Firefighters arrived on the scene and found the man had fallen several feet onto a sharp-pointed fence directly below the tree, impaling him in his arm.
"Crews were able [to] utilize their rescue training and remove a portion of the fence to transport the patient to the ER," Lakeside Fire said in a Facebook post.
Firefighters pulled the man from the fence with a portion of the fence still jabbed into his arm.
"It is imperative to leave any impaled objects in place and have a surgical team remove them as removing the object in the field can cause further injury," firefighters said.
The victim was taken to an area hospital in stable condition.
As far as the job of tree trimming goes, a local tree trimming business says the job comes with plenty of risks.
"It's one of the most dangerous professions. Not only are you up in the air 50 or 60 feet at times but you're using a power saw that's cutting heavy wood," said Francisco Medina, with Cortez Tree Care.
Karen and Roger Buck said they were just glad they were home to help and thankful for their local first responders.
"Lakeside Fire is just wonderful. They were even saying they might come back for a pool party," Karen Buck said.
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