# A Port Chester, N.Y. tree worker was killed Monday afternoon when a tree trunk fell



## rullywowr (Jan 8, 2013)

This is pretty sad.

LINK

A Port Chester, N.Y. tree worker was killed Monday afternoon when a tree trunk he was cutting fell onto him.

Police said Alvarro Lopez, 26, was working with his family's business, Lopez Landscaping of Greenwich, when the accident occurred at a property on Bush Avenue.

Lopez was on the property most of the day working to remove a large tree, police said. He'd climbed the tree using boot spikes and was wearing a harness.

Witnesses told police that Lopez cut a large section of the tree trunk, which then fell backwards, struck him and knocked him out.

The ground crew, which included members of the Lopez's family, lowered him from the tree and called 911.

Emergency responders found Lopez in cardiac arrest and began CPR. He was taken to Greenwich Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

State workplace safety inspectors are investigating the incident.


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## rmihalek (Jan 10, 2013)

That is sad news. I learned about it when watching NECN (New England Cable News). They have a scroll running along the bottom of the screen and it mentioned that a Greenwich CT tree worker was killed by a falling tree.

R.I.P. Mr. Lopez


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## rfinnovation (Jan 10, 2013)

rmihalek said:


> That is sad news. I learned about it when watching NECN (New England Cable News). They have a scroll running along the bottom of the screen and it mentioned that a Greenwich CT tree worker was killed by a falling tree.
> 
> R.I.P. Mr. Lopez



R.I.P. Mr. Lopez = Happen to often be careful out there


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## TreeGuyHR (Jan 10, 2013)

Too young.

My second thought was, I wish that reporters knew SOMETHING about trees and what arborists do, in order to provide a little more information. These accidents are all reported as if they are unfortunate mysteries of the universe. 

The reporter could have asked the following or at least gone to the scene and asked to take some pictures. Of curse he would have to know WHAT to take pictures of...

Species of tree?

Height he was working?

Size of piece?

Location of Lopez in relation to the cut and intended line of fall?

His experience?

Lean?

Method of rigging?

Cutting technique? (wedges, break cut, narrow face cut, wide face, no face, etc).

Any defect in the tree?


I suppose this is asking way too much. 

Perhaps the reporter will do a follow-up based on the OSHA report. I assume these are a public record?

I wonder if ISA or other industry groups keep records of tree worker fatalities with the level of detail above.

My guess:

He was fairly low down and chunking it down, and attempted to push over a large piece that "wouldn't go". Instead of putting a rope on it to have the groundies pull it off, he climbed higher (beyond where he could have ducked out of the way), broke it off, and it fell with the lean, on himself. He may have also failed to predict the line of fall because it had one or more horns on it.

Different scenario if it was rigged to start with: he was simply in the way below the chunk.


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## Bermie (Jan 16, 2013)

Wonder how long it took to get him down, if he was hanging up there for a while, unconscious...they mention cardiac arrest, almost sounds like suspension trauma, they laid him down too soon when they got him out of the tree?
Sad


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