A hang glider from Roseburg was stuck in a tree for more than three hours July 15 before being rescued.

Firefighters made an unconventional rescue over the weekend when a man on a recreational hang gliding flight from Woodrat Mountain found himself stuck 40 feet high in a tree.

“He was in a dead fir tree — it was a little bit of a challenging rescue,” said Cody Goodnough, deputy chief of Applegate Valley Fire District.

Applegate firefighters responded to the call at 2:06 p.m. Saturday. With the help of multiple agencies, the stranded man, who lives in Roseburg, was safe on the ground at 5:48 p.m. Search-and-rescue volunteers helped the man up a steep embankment to the road where Mercy Flights personnel were waiting. His injuries were minor, and he refused transport.

“He was just glad to be back on solid ground again,” Goodnough said.

Local groups of paragliding and hang gliding enthusiasts have their own search-and-rescue team for these situations, Goodnough said, so it’s uncommon for the fire department or sheriff’s office to be called for stranded gliders. But the Roseburg man’s flight was unconnected to any event, so it was purely recreational, he said.

The rescue was treacherous for several reasons, according to Goodnough. Dead tree branches break easily, and wind could catch the glider, pulling the stranded man still attached to it out of the tree and dropping him somewhere else, he said. To get the man safely to the ground, Ashland Fire and Rescue, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department deputies, Jackson County Search and Rescue and a Bureau of Land Management deputy pooled equipment and skills, Goodnough said.

Sheriff’s deputies from the department’s tactical rope rescue team established an anchor point to help personnel move from the tree’s location up a steep slope to the road, said Aaron Lewis, public information officer for the sheriff’s office. He estimated more than 10 search-and-rescue volunteers responded.

Ashland Fire and Rescue responded because the department has a specialty piece of equipment, Goodnough said. 

“It’s basically a bean bag launcher, a slingshot for a bean bag with a small tensile string attached to it,” he said.

The device is similar to one used by arborists to climb tall or otherwise difficult-to-access trees. The thick ropes that support a human’s weight are too heavy to throw high and accurately. For this rescue 40 feet in the air, the device helped rescuers gain an access point in the tree.

Once rescuers had a secured the line, one rescuer climbed up and secured the man to the tree, created an anchor system above his head and carefully lowered him down.

Rescuers then helped the man through the “several hundred meter” route to the road, Goodnough said. Firefighters remained at the tree to detach the glider.

The problem of stranded hang gliders and paragliders is a recurring one.

“We get one stuck in a tree every couple years probably,” Goodnough said.