Hopkinton Fire Department personnel assist in the rescue of a worker in a bucket truck Tuesday afternoon. PHOTO/HOPKINTON FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Hopkinton Fire Department on Tuesday afternoon assisted a specialized team in rescuing a tree maintenance worker trapped in a bucket truck on Hayden Rowe Street after the bucket appeared to malfunction while it was suspended in the air.

In a phone interview with the Independent Tuesday afternoon, HFD Chief Gary Daugherty Jr. said the department received an emergency call at 11:40 a.m. about the worker being stuck in the bucket.

“We suspected that the bucket truck had a mechanical failure,” he said. He noted that the worker was performing tree maintenance near Echo Lake in freezing temperatures when the bucket seemed to malfunction.

“We tried to rescue him ourselves,” Daugherty continued. “But it was too difficult because of the proximity to a house and because of the angles involved. We could barely get a ladder truck up there because it was deep in the woods.”

Firefighters extended a ladder up to the bucket but advised the worker not to attempt to climb out at that time.

Daugherty said that after assessing the situation, he called in the fire district’s technical rescue team at 12:43 p.m. for assistance. Using the HFD ladder as an “anchor base,” the technical rescue team provided rescue equipment to the worker, including a rope. He attached himself to the rope and climbed out of the bucket, after which the team lowered him to safety.

The worker, who Daugherty said was uninjured, was on the ground at 1:55 p.m. The fire chief said the individual “worked for a private local tree maintenance company.”

“We hate to call in the technical rescue team for something that appears to be minor,” he added. “But in this case, because of the location and the difficult angles involved, the amount of resources the technical rescue team has was definitely needed.”

The frigid temperature of about 30 degrees — 18 with the wind chill factor — likely was a factor in the bucket truck’s equipment malfunction, Daugherty added.