Abstract: At 9:00 a.m. on June 6, 2017, an employee climbed a 75 feet tall tree, using gaffes, a climbing rope, and a work positioning belt to cut a tree down in sections. The employee cut a section from the top of the tree that was approximately 33 feet long. The butt at the end of this section was approximately 9 feet in diameter. When the section of the tree was cut, it kicked back and struck the employee in the chest area. The employee remained on the tree for approximately 50 minutes until a bucket truck with workers trained in pole retrieval arrived and got the injured employee down. The last 35 minutes or so in the tree, the employee was motionless and silent. The employee was pronounced dead by rescue personnel once at ground level.