Coworker, Firefighters Rescue Seizure Victim

A tree-service worker was rescued by a coworker and members of the  on Friday afternoon, after a seizure left him dangling upside-down and unconscious more than 35 feet in the air.

At about 4:40 p.m., Bill Hillan, an Edison resident and tree climber with Promise Tree Service of Edison, was pruning branches from a tree on the front lawn of 2215 Lyde Place when he suddenly began to convulse, according to his coworkers, Duane and John Juhasz. Secured by harnesses and ropes, Hillan fell from his perch and hung in midair. 

“I was in a tree over here, and John just started yelling, ‘Billy! Billy!’” Duane said.

Duane scrambled down the tree he had been tending to, and John called 911. Then, with John assisting, Duane climbed up to Hallan, whom he lifted upright and held until firefighters arrived. 

“For probably five minutes, he was completely out,” Duane said. “He didn’t even know what happened. When he came around, he asked, ‘What are you doing here?’”

Hillan seemed to recover quickly, Duane said. By the time firefighters maneuvered a pneumatic ladder into position, Hillan was talking and squeezing both of Duane’s hands. 

“He probably could’ve gotten out of the tree on his own,” Duane said.

Nevertheless, firefighters and medical personnel took no chances. They helped Hillan into the basket-shaped compartment at the top of the ladder, then lowered him to the ground, where members of the  and paramedics waited.

Hillan was transported by ambulance to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at Rahway, the Juhasz brothers said.