Logger down

[cantoo]

Heading out to a wake for a friends son. 4th generation loggers and sawyers the whole family is involved in the business. Pretty much born with a chainsaw in his hands just like his Dad and Uncles, 21 years old, broke his hip last year when the crane broke and fell off the logging truck, just getting over that and getting back into cutting. He was cutting a tree down, timberjack was pulling another log out near him, the log hit a dead tree and that dead tree fell down and hit him. Wrong place at the wrong time. I spent many summers at their sawmill and in the bush with them. All the lumber from the house I now live in was cut from our bush, hauled to their mill and cut up so Dad could build this house with it.
Makes me think of the close calls I have had over the years. I have a buddy who sells firewood, he says this is the reason he only does tops, much safer but not fool proof either. It's a dangerous business and not for everyone.

 

[Uncle John]

How sad. My condolences and prayers to his family and friends.

 

[rwoods]

Sorry for your loss. Thanks for the reminder that it is not always the tree you are cutting that can get you. Ron

 

[Hddnis]

Sorry to hear that. May he rest in peace and may his family and friends be comforted after their loss.



Mr. HE

 

[flashhole]

I hate hearing stuff like this. My heart goes out to him and I wish him a speedy recovery. Sometimes I'm glad I work alone in the woods just because I don't want to put anyone else in harms way. Other times when things are going smoothly with no worries for others I really wish I had some help. Guess you just roll with the punches.

 

[Mac88]

Ditto what everyone else said. Logging can be a dangerous occupation. Everyone please be careful.

 

[Rickochet]

I hate hearing stuff like this. My heart goes out to him and I wish him a speedy recovery. Sometimes I'm glad I work alone in the woods just because I don't want to put anyone else in harms way. Other times when things are going smoothly with no worries for others I really wish I had some help. Guess you just roll with the punches.

We are praying for his family. Sounds like this poor guy had a very rough, short life. Once you're dead there is no second chance for a do over or recovery.

 

[timbrjackrussel]

So very sad. Danger is everywhere in a bush.
When my wife and I work together cutting and skidding she wonders why I give the orders to get back and keep a large distance. Can we all be extra cautious?

 

[zogger]

Oh man.....sucks. My sincere condolences.

You look at the actuarial tables, logging is right up there, currently #2 (commercial fishing is the highest/most dangerous).

 

[cantoo]

We were early and near the front of the line, there was likely over 5 to 600 people there just for the early visitation which is alot considering the town only has about 500 people living in it. They are a well known family in the wood business and are well liked by everyone. I talked to his Dad and he said he had just been talking to him a half hour before he was hit. His Dad doesn't get into the bush as much anymore and just happened to be there that day. 2 guys on skidders were right there too and he was a ways away from the tree being pulled but sometimes you forget about the domino effect, pullinga 80' tree, hit another dead tree and it falls that puts you a 180' kill zone pretty quick. They had his Stihl cut into a big piece of burl right there beside him in the room. I'm pretty sure it's going with him.
My brother in law and I cut mainly tops and I always go in and cut all the standing dead I can before we start pulling. Had 1 farmer say he wanted some dead ones left standing for the critters and birds, I told him there were lots away from where we were working. We try to be as safe as we can.

 

[PEKS]

Best to the Family..
Stay Safe all..

 

[Iska3]

Prayers said for the family. Such a sad thing at this time of the year. We can do our best to do everything right and still it can happen.

 

[mga]

I hate hearing stuff like this. My heart goes out to him and I wish him a speedy recovery. Sometimes I'm glad I work alone in the woods just because I don't want to put anyone else in harms way. Other times when things are going smoothly with no worries for others I really wish I had some help. Guess you just roll with the punches.

ummmmm......?

 

[TreeGuyHR]

Sad to hear.

I am in the fairly small club of guys that has been hit with a log being pulled by a skidder. I got off easy -- I could barely move for two days, just bruised on one side of my body. I was 27, and had been working with a "lot clearing crew" for a year, with a company that essentially offered no training and enforced no safety rules. Helmets, chaps, and eye protection? Huh?

The odds were stacked against me more than this guy, who although younger, had more experience working in the woods -- he was just less lucky. Then again, the longer you work in the woods (or up a tree), I suppose an accident is ever more likely, only kept at bay by experience for so long.

 

[logging22]

Prayers sent.

 

[Oldtimer]

Rule number 1 when the skidder is in town: Watch the skidder till it's far enough away so you can resume work.

My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends. Tragic.

 

[Fred Wright]

Sad indeed. Our thoughts and prayers go out the family.

Sometime back I was researching tree felling safety, might have been an OSHA webpage. According to the site, standing dead or snags should be removed before cutting in the area. I wondered why... what harm could a snag cause?

I guess this is the reason.

 

[TreeGuyHR]

Sad indeed. Our thoughts and prayers go out the family.

Sometime back I was researching tree felling safety, might have been an OSHA webpage. According to the site, standing dead or snags should be removed before cutting in the area. I wondered why... what harm could a snag cause?

I guess this is the reason.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but snags (or highly defective trees) can be safely left on a logging show if they are in a patch of upland reserve habitat, steam buffer strip, or the like. Of course, state forest practices and the state forester that inspects your site in order to get the timber permit may have varying opinions.

In Oregon, snags are to be felled that can reach any level of road (main line, dirt road, designated skid trail). Another alternative (that you usually just see on State and Federal land) is to leave short, fat snags left from the original forest (these tend to crumble instead of fall over) as well as patches of trees around the snags or highly defective trees.

There is not much information on this accident, seems that a large dead tree was left adjacent to a skid trail or skid road. If it was out in the cutting area somewhere, it would have been safer to leave some buffer trees around it to avoid hitting it with a turn of logs while getting these to a road.

My condolences to the unfortunate young guy's family.

 

[Wood Doctor]

So Sad...

Prayers sent.

A logger might be the closest friend I have right now. He works with big equipment and cuts big trees. Now and then he has tops available for me. Many times he works by himself. I worry about him all the time. Last month he worked with another guy that flipped his huge skidder upside down. Frankly, it scares the he__ out of me.

 

[cantoo]

Treeguy, around here there is no State forests, it's all small farm plots. Logging bushes are usually at the back of farm land and usually only small acreages ( 30 aces would be normal) so no real buffer areas or "protected areas". Loggers go in and mark the trees to be cut, cutters might come in a day early but usually at the same time as timberjack drivers because lots of times it's the same guy. No big outfits around here because there just isn't the volume of trees. There usually isn't a logging road, they make a path to pull each tree.
As I understand it Mike was cutting trees and they were skidding the trees out as they were being cut. Skidder was pulling a tree thru the bush a little ways from Mike, the tree hit a dead tree on the way past and the dead tree fell and hit Mike, he never saw it coming. I assume the dead tree hit the tree he was cutting and slide down it hitting him but I don't know.