Sunday afternoon, members of the Rowan County Rescue task force were called into action when a parachutist ended up landing in trees off of South Main Street due to a parachute malfunction.

According to Rowan County Rescue Squad Chief Bobby Parnell, the call that a parachutist was caught in a tree in the 2300 block of South Main Street came in about 12:30 p.m. Initial reports did not say if the person was injured, and the victim was high in a tree and railroad tracks were nearby, so a technical, high-angle response was called for.

The task force is a team that includes Salisbury, Kannapolis, Locke Township and Woodleaf fire departments, and all but Woodleaf were called in for this rescue, along with Rowan County Emergency Services and Fire and Rescue Association.

“When we get a technical rescue like this, an alarm goes out and equipment is dispatched according to the needs,” said Parnell, who said situations like this “are good examples of the benefit of our training together. Different departments have different equipment but we have trained together as a team and we know what everyone brings to the table.”

In this instance, Salisbury fire were the first on scene and brought the ladder truck. Because the tree was reachable by truck, they were able to get to the person with the ladder and the victim, with only a few minor scratches, was able to get in the bucket and come down.

But Parnell added that some of the ladder crew had to use chain saws to cut limbs out of the way on approach, and “on the back side, we were ready with plan B if the ladder didn’t work. Members of the Salisbury Fire Department were rigged to ascend the tree using ropes and arborist tools in case they couldn’t get the truck in.”

He noted that Salisbury is “very skilled in their ladder operations and were able to get in there for the rescue.”

Members of the task force come together for training throughout the year, and work to solidify intensely technical skills.

“First responders throughout Rowan County have great relationships and the joint training shows in events like this,” said Parnell. “And fortunately, in this case, the patient was able to get into the ladder basket on their own and was not seriously hurt.”