indiansprings
Firewood Purveyor
Yesterday I was extremely fortunate not to have been seriously injured or even killed and really feel lucky to have walked away. I was guilty of getting too comfortable, after thirty plus years of cutting, I've been fortunate, the only serious accident was 32 years ago and I still wear the scar on the left thigh where the chain got into meat.
It was really windy in our area yesterday, winds prolly gusting up to 20-25mph at times, but as usual we're under the gun to keep up with production and the property we're cutting on has alot of standing dead oaks, killed as a result of many years of cattle standing in the timber and the waste killing the timber off. I shouldn't have even been falling under the conditions, but physically felt excellent and wanted to get as much dropped as possible. I was falling what I really felt was a solid 30-32" red oak, the face cut didn't show any signs of decay, looked rock solid, as did the remaining canopy, when I started on the back cut a wind gut caught it, the result was it went all at once, the back side had a hollow void, the tree must have jumped 4' laterally knocking me completely off my feet, sent the saw flying, the main trunk actually brushed up against my lower legs as it settled on the ground. If that wasn't bad enough the main truck hit about 12-14" red oak dead center breaking it off about 6' above the ground causing a wicked barber chair. I literally had to sit down for a few minutes before I picked a saw back up. It was a heck of a lesson for the rest of the crew, I shut it down and had one hell of a safety talk, admitting 110% what happened was a result of being careless and falling trees in winds that were way to strong to be doing it in. It sure isn't worth taking chances. I know we all get "comfortable at times", if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, just walk away, there really is no shame in either admitting fear, or lack or expierence in falling a tree, no matter how many you have done, it just takes one to kill or maim you. The way I look at yesterday, the man upstairs has another plan in mind, or I'd been squashed flat as a rat turd. The saw only suffered a dent in the front muffler cover, which was replaced today. Got off extremely lucky.
It was really windy in our area yesterday, winds prolly gusting up to 20-25mph at times, but as usual we're under the gun to keep up with production and the property we're cutting on has alot of standing dead oaks, killed as a result of many years of cattle standing in the timber and the waste killing the timber off. I shouldn't have even been falling under the conditions, but physically felt excellent and wanted to get as much dropped as possible. I was falling what I really felt was a solid 30-32" red oak, the face cut didn't show any signs of decay, looked rock solid, as did the remaining canopy, when I started on the back cut a wind gut caught it, the result was it went all at once, the back side had a hollow void, the tree must have jumped 4' laterally knocking me completely off my feet, sent the saw flying, the main trunk actually brushed up against my lower legs as it settled on the ground. If that wasn't bad enough the main truck hit about 12-14" red oak dead center breaking it off about 6' above the ground causing a wicked barber chair. I literally had to sit down for a few minutes before I picked a saw back up. It was a heck of a lesson for the rest of the crew, I shut it down and had one hell of a safety talk, admitting 110% what happened was a result of being careless and falling trees in winds that were way to strong to be doing it in. It sure isn't worth taking chances. I know we all get "comfortable at times", if you ever find yourself in a similar situation, just walk away, there really is no shame in either admitting fear, or lack or expierence in falling a tree, no matter how many you have done, it just takes one to kill or maim you. The way I look at yesterday, the man upstairs has another plan in mind, or I'd been squashed flat as a rat turd. The saw only suffered a dent in the front muffler cover, which was replaced today. Got off extremely lucky.
