A nostalgic skydiving trip took a harrowing turn after a parachutist got stuck in a tree near the Franklin/Banks County line.
Franklin County 911 received the unusual call around 12:46 p.m. Thursday, March 28. Multiple fire and rescue units responded to the scene on East Ariail Road off Highway 51.
The man was among a group of skydivers training for a tribute jump at Normandy in June.
High winds and a complicated rescue
The skydivers took off Thursday aboard a vintage WWII aircraft. High winds blew them off course when they jumped out of the plane. One paratrooper’s chute got caught at the top of a poplar tree, leaving him dangling 100 feet off the ground.
Bold Springs Fire Chief Garren Hall was among the first emergency responders to arrive on the scene. He said the rescue was complicated because aerial ladder trucks were too heavy to cross a bridge leading to the trapped skydiver.
Many volunteer firefighters were among the emergency personnel who rushed to the scene. They devised a series of rescue plans.
Rescuers contacted the Georgia State Patrol Aviation Division, which dispatched a helicopter equipped with a 300-foot winch. The plan was to use the winch to lift the man out of the tree and lower him to the ground. However, the situation grew more urgent when the jumper reported losing feeling in his legs because of the pressure from the harness. Fearing he would develop compartment syndrome, rescuers called in a Life Flight chopper in case of a medical emergency and looked for a quicker solution.
Dispatchers contacted the Gwinnett County High Angle Tactical Ropes Team for mutual aid. The team was on its way when rescuers found a local tree service with a bucket truck boom tall enough for the rescue.
He ‘wasn’t going to wait’
Truck operators with Scott Brothers Tree Service of Royston got the bucket to within 30 to 35 feet of the paratrooper. Using a rope to pull the winch cable to him, the jumper tied the cable to his parachute to create a zip line and slid down the cable to the bucket.
“The paratrooper is prior military and a parachute instructor,” said Hall. “He knew what he was doing.”
Hall says he had help on the way for the paratrooper, but “he decided he was coming out on his own and wasn’t going to wait for them.”
The unfortunate landing did not injure the paratrooper, but two others did sustain minor injuries. One complained of a shoulder injury after landing in a tree and freeing himself. The other suffered scrapes and bruises when his chute dragged him along the ground after he landed.
Hall says all three refused medical transport to a local hospital.
About 35 emergency personnel and Department of Natural Resources employees took part in the rescue operation. They cleared the scene at 2:46 p.m.
The paratroopers have been training this week in Toccoa, preparing for the 80th anniversary of the airborne assault just prior to D-Day on June 6, 1944. The group includes actors from the acclaimed HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. They were training and filming a documentary at Camp Toccoa at Currahee, where the paratroopers depicted in the miniseries trained during World War II.
