HOUSTON – A man was rescued Thursday after he got stuck in a tree.
Eugene Rodgers was part of a tree-trimming crew that was clearing dead trees left over from the drought.
As Rodgers was lowering a treetop to the ground on Wycliffe Drive near Kimberley Lane about 12:45 p.m., the weight shook the tree that he was in. A dead limb snapped and pulled a high-voltage power line down around the trunk.
Co-workers were worried that the downed power line was going to set the tree on fire.
"He couldn't jump, he couldn't run, he couldn't do nothing," said Curtis Rogers of City Wide Tree Service.
Rogers called firefighters for help. Firefighters called CenterPoint Energy to get the power shut off.
"We were just talking to him, trying to calm him," Rogers said.
While emergency crews worked on getting the electricity off, Rogers came up with an idea.
"I threw another rope over in the other tree and then held it," he said. "He slid over into the other tree."
Once Rodgers was clear of the electrified tree, he safely repelled to the ground.
"Everything is all right," Rodgers said.
Rodgers continued working after the ordeal.
"We got to finish this job up," he said.
