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Firefighters couldn't get to the 42-year-old arborist from Hackensack with an aerial ladder after the mishap left him stranded on an unsteady limb 20 to 30 feet above the backyard of an Ellington Road home shortly before 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 6.
They had to use ground ladders and ropes instead.
"Coincidentally, while on his way to teach rope rescue for hostage negotiation, off-duty FF Steven Alvarez assisted," a brief post by Fair Lawn police says.
Alvarez "climbed and quickly applied a hasty harness," the post reads.
The victim was then "lowered right onto a stretcher" and taken from the residence just off Midland Avenue to the trauma unit at St. Joseph's University Medical Center in Paterson, the post reads.
It all took barely 20 minutes, responders said.
Members of Fair Lawn Rescue Squad, the fire and police departments and the Fair Lawn Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded.
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