It’s not unusual for firefighters to get a call for a cat stuck up a tree, but it’s not every day they have to rescue a paraglider.
A local operator ran into trouble Tuesday afternoon attempting to land at First Flight Airstrip at the Wright Brother Memorial in Kill Devil Hills just after 5 p.m., getting stuck about 30 feet up in pine trees northwest of the runway next to Colington Road.
Crews from the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department quickly arrived on scene and used a ladder to bring him down within 10 minutes. The 50-year-old local man wasn’t injured.
During his time up in the trees, he was talking to folks on the ground.
Traffic was stopped in both directions on Colington Road for the rescue, causing a significant rush hour backup.
The paraglider’s motor and other equipment was also brought down, but the parachute remained in the trees Tuesday night.
This story originally appeared on OBXToday.com. Read More local stories here.