Santa Rosa man drinking beer in redwood tree, falls 70 feet

Sitting in a redwood tree, drinking beer, a Santa Rosa man fell from about 70 feet, slamming into limbs on the way down before landing face down in his backyard, according to authorities.

The semi-conscious, injured man was taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and apparently was transferred to another facility for treatment.

Santa Rosa firefighters headed for Crest Drive in east Santa Rosa after getting multiple calls Sunday’s about 3:30 p.m. of a man high in a 100-foot redwood tree drinking beer and then for a man who’d fallen from that same tree.

Fire Capt. Jack Thomas initially had been forming a plan for the difficult job of getting the man out of the tree. His options were the city’s aerial fire truck or seeking help from the Sonoma County sheriff’s helicopter.

Some neighbors were unaware he’d fallen and pointed arriving firefighters toward the top of the tree. Firefighters, unable to spot him, then looked into his yard where they found him on the ground. He’d landed on top of a small water tank, Thomas said.

It wasn’t clear why the man was so high in the tree.

“He was hanging out, from what we were told,” said Thomas. “He fell in some form or fashion, bounced off of all the limbs all the way down.”

Firefighters and paramedics began medical aid and inside his pockets found unbroken, empty Corona beer bottles.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@rossmannreport.