HENRY BROWN, 4, above, hangs onto dad during the ride back to ground level in the bucket of a ladder truck provided by a Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue crew Wednesday evening. Also in the bucket are Lt. Eric Blumenthal and Firefighter Rick Harrington. Holding a flashlight to guide the landing is Capt. Steve Biehn.
HENRY BROWN, 4, above, hangs onto dad during the ride back to ground level in the bucket of a ladder truck provided by a Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue crew Wednesday evening. Also in the bucket are Lt. Eric Blumenthal and Firefighter Rick Harrington. Holding a flashlight to guide the landing is Capt. Steve Biehn.
Henry Brown might be a celebrity in his Wright Street neighborhood after being rescued Wednesday evening by firefighters from his 50-foot perch in a backyard cedar tree, but his mama isn’t happy.
“My 4-year-old takes any challenge, he has no fear,” said Marcy Brown. “It doesn’t take long for him to get into trouble.”
She said Henry decided to scale the tree after watching neighbor kids more than twice his age take on the 60-foot challenge.
It was shortly after 5 p.m. and Marcy, who is eight months pregnant, was in the house preparing dinner. Her husband, Chase, was not yet home from work.
Because it was getting pretty dark, Marcy decided to check on Henry and his elder brother, Sawyer, 6.
“Sawyer usually he keeps an eye on Henry and doesn’t let him get into any trouble,” she said. “He met me as I was coming outside to tell me that Henry was climbing the tree and wouldn’t stop.”
Marcy said Henry hadn’t shown an avid interest in tree climbing before so she was shocked to see him so high up in the branches.
“I decided against having him come back down on his own because it was getting dark and I was afraid that he would fall. So, I ordered him to stop right where he was,” she said.
Henry was shocked when he finally slowed down enough to see how far off the ground he was.
“He started getting scared and I told him to hang on,” said Marcy, who called 9-1-1 for assistance.
She reassured Henry that help would arrive soon and he alternated between being frightened of the elevation and commenting on the spectacular view.
“He said, ‘I can see all the Christmas lights on the houses, it’s so beautiful up here,’” said Marcy. “He would kind of go back and forth and I would try to keep him calm.”
By the time Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue arrived at the scene with a ladder truck, a small crowd of neighbors had gathered in the Brown’s yard to encourage Henry.
Chase arrived as the fire crew was getting positioned to raise the bucket to pluck Henry from his perch.
The decision was made for dad to climb up and secure Henry in case the bucket inadvertently hit a branch in the dark and shook the tree.
Overseeing the rescue operation was Capt. Steve Biehn. He was accompanied by Lt. Eric Blumenthal and firefighters Walt Denstedt, Rick Harrington and Casey Johnson, as well as recruit Travis Fritz.
Although MCF&R assists the city’s animal country officer with cat rescues now and then, Chief Robert Palmer cannot recall another time they helped a child get out of a tree.
“This is definitely something that doesn’t happen often,” he said.
“Henry is a pretty fearless little kid.”
That, said mom, is exactly the problem. In the interest of having Henry live to adulthood, his parents have laid some new ground rules for their son’s future expeditions.
“We’ve told him to stick to smaller trees and only climb when we’re with him,” said Marcy. “And to stop trying to do what the older neighbor kids are doing.”
Although Henry’s escapade is something the family will remember for years to come, it has mom thinking.
“In January, I’m going to have three boys…” she said.
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