Hundreds of neighbors looked on for more than an hour at a grisly scene as the body of the 23-year-old man was suspended about 60 feet above ground because the electricity that had passed through him had affixed him to the tree, according to Menlo Park Fire Protection District Chief Harold Schapelhouman.

"Electricity always tries to find a ground and it went through his arm and leg and essentially welded him to the tree," Schapelhouman said. "Our heart goes out to this young man and his family; he was trying to improve things a little bit for Christmas and he made a small miscalculation and it cost him his life."

The man, whose name was not being released until the coroner's office could contact his family, was an employee of Page Mill Properties, which owns apartment buildings in the area, Schapelhouman said.

The man had been using a ladder to ascend a tall redwood tree in front of 2012 Euclid Street at around noon and appeared to have moved from the ladder to the tree itself to try to reach taller branches. He apparently hit the power line with a string of lights he was trying to toss over a branch.

Schapelhouman said police received a call from a neighbor at about 12:20 p.m. and that firefighters soon arrived to find the man attached to the tree with smoke coming from his feet. Neighbors and passers-by watched aghast, but firefighters could do nothing until PG&E crews arrived at 12:54 p.m. to turn off the power lines that supply electricity for thousands of homes and businesses.

Once the power was shut off, firefighters brought the man's body down from the tree, Schapelhouman said.

Homes, businesses and major intersections in the Menlo Park and East Palo Alto were without power from about 1 to 4 p.m., said PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi.

This article appeared on page C - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle