Man Falls From Tree, Prompting Forest Rescue

By Andrew Gorosko

After receiving a call for help about 2:52 pm on Tuesday, an estimated 25 firefighters from Botsford and Newtown Hook & Ladder rapidly responded to the town’s Orchard Hill Nature Center for the forest rescue of a local man who had fallen from a tree onto rocks and was injured by the impact.

Police and ambulance crews also went to the scene in the effort to remove the man from the point where he had fallen and transport him to the hospital for medical care.

Police identified the victim as forest hiker William Frampton, 18, of 6 Pebble Road.

Frampton was treated for injuries at Danbury Hospital’s emergency room and then released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Police said that Frampton had been hiking on a forest trail with two friends when the incident occurred.

“Frampton attempted to perch himself onto a tree, which was hanging over a stream. Frampton lost his grip and fell out of the tree, landing on rocks located on the east bank of the stream,” police said.

Firefighters secured Frampton in a transport basket, after which they hand-carried him out of the wooded area to a waiting ambulance on Orchard Hill Road, police said.

Botsford Fire Chief Wayne Ciaccia said that the man had fallen downward about ten feet from the tree, landing on some rocks alongside the stream at the base of a 45-degree slope. The stream is about five feet wide in that area.

“We had plenty of manpower,” Chief Ciaccia said, estimating that about 15 Botsford fire volunteers and ten members of Hook & Ladder responded to the call for help. He termed it a “good daytime response” to such an emergency.

Firefighters put a safety line on the man, placed him on a backboard and then put him inside a so-called Stokes basket before carrying him out of the woods, Chief Ciaccia said.

The man had bruises and scrapes as a result of the fall, but was conscious and alert, the fire chief said.

There were no injuries to emergency responders as a result of the incident, he said.

Police Officer Bart Lorancaitis investigated.