See this stump ...

[Kevin]

[Kevin]

Nothing special right?

[Kevin]

It belongs to this tree ...

[Kevin]

It killed a man three days ago.

[Kevin]

From my understanding this was a hung tree.
It was hung up in another tree and fell just as the experienced arborist walked under it.

[Tillaway]

Thats the problem with falling, sometimes you only get one mistake. :'( You won't catch me walking under one.

[richnewill]

Right off, I see there is no hinge wood to direct this tree safely.  This may be why it became hung in the first place, and by not having hung it, the accident may have been avoided.  Next, without any details, I don't know how the man ended up walking under the hung tree, but it was the feller's responsibility to get it down immediately upon getting it hung.  He must never walk away from a hanger, and should go as far as to carry warning tape in the event he cannot remain right there (such as having to go get a skidder.  In any case, it is unsafe and illegal to perform manual logging alone, so he should have had a coworker to contact to bring equipment).  Anyway, there is a obvious lack of knowledge shown in this sad picture.  This was a totally avoidable "accident".  I do not want to qualify it as an accident fully, since I do not feel accidents result from negligence, but rather this could be deemed a "accident of negligence".  I am sorry for the man that caused it and the family of the deceased.  Rich Newill, Loss Control Representative, MATSIF

[Kevin]

I agree.
I wish we had access to more of these cases so we could keep reminding people of the dangers.
Apparently it was Brians boss that felled the tree.

[Frank_Pender]

Today was a tough day.  Began one week ago Friday, on the 11th.   A retired teacher from my district (age 67) had climbed a 20' ladder theen up another 10' into the tree.  (DBH was 14")  He had gotten the top cut out at the diameter of 6". and was limbing the opposite side when a limb broke and he had not tied himself off with a rope ( he had no harness).  He fell and died on impact right at the feet of his wife who had just said, Please be careful."   I went over on Tuesday last and survey the remaining trees to fall plus the topped one he fell from.   We decided to have a real professional faller come in and finish what was left as one needed to to jacked away from the house.   I went today and decked the logs and chipped all of the limbs not used for firewood.  

[Kevin]

Sorry to hear that Frank.
People have to realize their limitations.
This is another unnecessary tragedy.

[Paul_H]

Frank,
that must be tough,to go clean up at a site where some one you knew died tragically.It's hard to make sense of it all sometimes.

My hat's of to you.

[Frank_Pender]

Thank you, Kevin and Paul.   Most often, with me, it really does not hit very hard for several days.  I am still waiting for the fall. I will haul the logs out on this Monday morning.   I told the victims wife I would try and donate the lumber to some group or organization in the area in her husbands name.   There is no day is this kind of business that it is not necessary to be on the alert for ANY KIND of danger or hazard.  Even getting out of bed and preparing for a day in the forest can bring huge consequences on ones thought processes.   I have been known to even forget that the boiling water is on the stove for my oatmeal.  Like right now.  bye.

[DougM]

 >:( >:( >:( >:(

Too many deaths

I would caution everyone to be careful with speculation and coming to conclusions based on a picture and a short account of an incident. Lets let the OHSA guy do his job and then see what happened and who is to blame. Lets remember that a man lost his life here and I am sure that anyone else involved is not feeling to good right now regardless of their responsibility. If there is anything that can be learned from the awful situation with the sniper in Maryland and Virginia is that speculation will get you in trouble. All the "experts" who have been speculating without much information had no idea what they were talking about and ended up being dead wrong on just about everything they said. (sorry about the bad pun)

Doug