By Christine Armario
Newsday
Copyright 2007 Newsday, Inc.
CALVERTON, N.Y. — A skydiver experienced a close call yesterday afternoon when he made a turn over a patch of woods in Calverton and got his parachute tangled in a pine tree - suspending him at least 40 feet in the air, police and fire officials said.
Ray Maynard, owner of Skydive Long Island, said the man had jumped from 13,500 feet with 18 other divers and appeared to be making a safe landing when he suddenly turned downwind toward the woods.
As the diver’s blue, white and magenta parachute came to a stop high up in the canopy of the woods, the diver, who Maynard identified as John Jacobs, anxiously grabbed hold of a tree. Company workers secured him with ropes and tried reaching him with a ladder.
But the ladder didn’t reach.
“He was really, really nervous up there,” said Maynard, who described the diver as an experienced, licensed jumper.
The Manorville Fire Department was called to the scene at 1:41 p.m. First Assistant Chief Charles Hambsch said rescuers used a brush truck to get a couple hundred yards into the woods. Two firefighters and an emergency medical technician used a ground ladder to reach him, place a belt around him, and free him from his harness.
“We just told him to relax and be as calm as you can,” Hambsch recalled afterward.
The skydiver appeared uninjured, but was transported to the Peconic Bay Medical Center. He was released later yesterday afternoon, and could not be reached for comment.
Riverhead police said the call was finished at 2:30 p.m..
Maynard said skydivers have fallen into the trees from time to time, but added that his facility has the largest landing ground for skydivers in the United States.
“I’m glad that he didn’t get hurt and everything is fine,” Maynard said.
Photo by James Carbone- Firefighters tend to a skydiver they rescued after his parachute got caught in a tree in Calverton.