Cal Fire helicopter rescues tree worker dangling 75 feet above San Jose street

A tree worker spent about 90 minutes dangling from a harness 75 feet above a San Jose street after a medical emergency turned an ordinary trimming job into a high-risk rescue.

San Jose fire officials said the incident began around 10:10 a.m. Friday on the 2900 block of Sunburst Drive, in the city’s Hillsdale neighborhood east of Monterey Road and north of Capitol Expressway. The worker was attached to a palm tree and trimming it when he suffered a medical emergency unrelated to the tree work itself.

Crews first tried to reach him from the ground, but the height, the position of the worker and the complexity of the scene made that approach impractical. Cal Fire then brought in a helicopter crew equipped with an aerial hoist, turning the rescue into a precision operation above a residential street.

By about 11:30 a.m., a Cal Fire rescuer was lowered to the worker, and the two were brought safely to the ground. Emergency personnel then took the worker to a hospital in serious condition. Local coverage said he had been suspended for roughly 90 minutes before the hoist rescue was completed.

The scene put a sharp spotlight on the hazards of arborist work, especially when workers are suspended at extreme heights and depend on harnesses, ropes and fast response from rescue crews. A medical episode in that setting can leave a worker immobile and unable to self-rescue, forcing responders to decide quickly whether they can reach the person from below or need an aerial team with specialized equipment.

In this case, the helicopter was not a dramatic add-on but the difference between an unreachable worker and a controlled rescue. The operation also showed how much emergency planning matters at job sites where ladders, bucket trucks or ground crews may not be enough once a worker is stranded high above the street.

The rescue followed a similar Northern California helicopter hoist operation involving an injured tree trimmer near Santa Rosa in April 2024, underscoring how quickly work in the canopy can become a medical emergency and why rescue capability is part of workplace safety, not separate from it.