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The worker was tethered in a harness nearly 40 feet up, supported by climbing ropes attached to several parts of the tree, when he apparently suffered a medical emergency outside a home on Anderson Avenue on Saturday, Police Lt. Vincent Aiello said.
The homeowner, who'd dialed 911 around noon, didn't know how long he'd been up there, Aiello said.
Responding police officers shouted but couldn't revive the worker from the ground, the lieutenant said.
He was lowered to a rear lawn on Taylor Drive nearly 45 minutes later through the combined efforts of the rappel team of the Closter Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue Corps and Closter and Demarest firefighters, responders said.
An advanced life support team from Hackensack University Medical Center and their Closter VAC colleagues then attempted CPR and other life-saving methods, Aiello said.
The HUMC unit pronounced the unidentified worker dead at the scene at 12:49 p.m., three minutes after he was brought down, he said.
OSHA and the Closter Detective Bureau are investigating the cause of death.
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