Art Bousquet, assistant chief with Hallandale Beach Fire Rescue, said the 59-year-old man was using a ladder to reach the high branches, but his foot became pinned after a mammoth 1,000 pound branch shifted, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday.

''He was basically trapped up there,'' Bousquet said.

He said rescuers used cables from two tow trucks to secure the massive branch and employed a backhoe to lift the heavy object. Bousquet said the man was given laughing gas while he was stuck in the tree to help ease the pain in his pinned foot.