County worker killed by tree they were felling

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Bigus Termitius

Bigus Termitius

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Sep 13, 2007
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Heyworth, IL.
The proof is here in the pics, if you study the stray cut on the stump you can see that he was lost.

I can tell by some of the cuts around here that county workers don't get trained well enough. We had a road commissioner catch up to myself and a utility forester working one day a couple of years ago. He was freaking out because one of his workers dropped a tree into the lines. No face cut, just a back cut. We went to investigate and I dropped some info by the shop a few days later. Told him to call me if he needed any help on bigger projects.

Prayers for the loved ones....and those responsible for training.
 
Bowhunter01

Bowhunter01

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Mar 17, 2008
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154
Location
MD
That's awful. I watched the video, and it looks like there was no hinge left on the stump. Looks like they may have been trying to fell it uphill into the yard, and maybe he cut through his hinge and lost control. Didn't say if that grade-all was pushing on it, but I'd guess if they had it there, they were using it. Its possible it could have pushed the butt right off the stump with no hinge. Tragic.
 
outonalimbts

outonalimbts

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Jan 5, 2008
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Location
Fairfax, VA- 866-987-2288 24/7
This stump shows several problems- my heart goes out to the family!

This is one of the consequences to poor workmanship- This tree didn't seem to have an adequate face cut. The back cut looked to be equal to or lower than the face, it was a miss matched cut for sure as the uphill side of the cut was at the same height as the face cut. There wasn't any hinge left he cut through it, so it lacked a steering mechanism. The " stump shot" was present but because the back cut was lower than the front lower edge of the face cut, it wasn't effective in steering, or preventing the tree from slipping off of the stump.

On the backside of the stump a cut can be seen that was way off of the target placement- it seemed shallow, but it may have affected the lean of this tree.

By reading the "log" you can see that the angled cut (face) was miss matched with the bottom of the face cut- there was a kerf cut that closed first, pressure was placed on the hinge, but then it was cut off, the log just slipped sideways off the stump, probably landing directly on the worker.
 

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