Firefighters rescued a paratrooper who became stuck in a tree during weekend training exercises at Camp Atterbury.
The Bargersville Fire Department, which has the county’s rope rescue team, was dispatched to the military installation near Edinburgh around 11 p.m. Friday, after a paratrooper became stuck about 50 feet high in a tree, Bargersville Fire Chief Jason Ramey said.
Two firefighters and a military member familiar with parachutes used the fire department’s aerial ladder to get up to the paratrooper.
Firefighters had to cut branches to allow the ladder to get close enough, he said.
Firefighters then used their ropes to secure the paratrooper before cutting away the parachute and other branches, Ramey said. The paratrooper was freed from the tree around 12:15 a.m. Saturday and was not injured, he said.
One challenge firefighters faced was making sure they had enough light to see clearly when cutting branches and ropes. They used engines on the ground to shine light into the tree, Ramey said.
The department has spent the past five years training with its rope rescue team, and that work paid off, he said.
The Nineveh, Franklin and Trafalgar fire departments also assisted at the scene, Ramey said.
