ROCKLAND — Rockland police decided that the safest option available at the moment for returning a child to the ground was to call in the fire department. 

Shortly before 12:30 p.m., Friday, May 5, a student attending South School eloped from the property, which is located at the corner of Broadway and Thomaston Street. As the call was being made to Knox Regional Communications Center requesting that police be on the lookout for the student, the child was last seen running onto Thomaston Street. Minutes later, the child was sighted again, approximately 15 feet in the air, up a skinny tree projecting narrow branches in all directions.

Attempts by school officials to persuade the child to climb down on his own were to no avail. So, out of caution and fear for the child’s safety, Rockland Fire Department brought its tower truck to Thomaston Street and activated the ladder and bucket.

As fire personnel grounded the truck and hoisted the ladder, Fire Chief Chris Whytock again tried to persuade the child to climb down on his own. Though the tree appeared accessible from afar, there was still concern that branches would obstruct the bucket’s access and require sawing those branches. 

When the truck was ready, FD Lt. Brian Sullivan worked the controls while Firefighter Eliot Stanley rode skyward and outward. The bucket drew closer, but then it stopped.

“With the branches and everything, when we started to put the bucket up, he [the child] went higher,” said Whytock. “It made it a little more awkward for us to get in there.”

But then the child stopped moving.

Sullivan reactivated the ladder, bringing a seated Stanley close enough to pull the child into his arms.

To the marvel of the fire department, no branches were broken in the maneuver.

“We just nosed it in and did our thing,” said Whytock.

Sullivan reversed the gears, carrying the seated sky-high companions back to the truck’s roof, where the two were able to climb down to the ground.

Thomaston Street reopened around 1 p.m.