Around 11:20 a.m. Tuesday morning, reports started trickling in about a man who had climbed to the top of the 80-foot sequoia tree on a median at 4th & Stewart near the downtown Macy's. That started what turned into an all-day affair for Seattle police, fire fighters and medics who spent the rest of their day hoping and waiting for the man to come down.
For most of the day, he remains exactly where he was. When approached by negotiators on a fire ladder, he threw apples, pine cones, and branches at them. They gave him some space and he ended up stripping bare the top of the tree, which is often covered in Christmas decorations during the holidays.
As happens, he became #ManInTree, a Twitter hashtag that went viral. He also spawned various Twitterfeeds as so did some of the other people & objects involved in rescue attempts.
Finally around 8:50 p.m. he started descended and it looks like he was going to go from being #ManInTree to #ManOnGround.
#ManInTree getting a few parting shots in as he descends. Kicking more branches off. Not cool, bro. pic.twitter.com/Ke5UCWq7V1
— Curbed Seattle (@CurbedSeattle) March 23, 2016
Then, about 20 or so feet from the ground he stopped moving, yelled with first responders and started re-ascending to his previous perch.
Aaaand #ManInTree is back atop the tree. pic.twitter.com/fu5jrZumrK
— Curbed Seattle (@CurbedSeattle) March 23, 2016
Back up top, he threw a few more branches to the ground and then appeared to attempt to find a comfortable way to go to sleep, which is where we're at now at 9:30 p.m.
Coming up on 12 hours, you start to wonder if the only way he's coming down is by force or falling asleep. Either way, fingers crossed that Seattle's first responders are ready.
More updates as they come.