# Freak tree accident, victim comes out ok



## chuckwood (Dec 3, 2014)

This happened here in Blount Co., TN, close to home. Just read this in today's paper. I'm curious to know just exactly how this guy managed to make a tree "leap off the stump".

http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/b...cle_1aa2c3c8-a56c-5db1-8466-656375b08e9a.html


A freak tree-cutting incident caught a man’s foot Tuesday afternoon, requiring an unusual rescue effort from Blount County firefighters.

According to reports, Ronnie Gumm was cutting a 50-foot oak tree near its base with a chain saw around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 1400 block of West Hunt Road. But rather than falling neatly to the ground, the tree instead leaped off the stump and landed, still standing, on top of Gumm’s left foot, braced by a couple of adjacent trees.

Four units and 10 men from the Blount County Fire Department arrived on the scene about 12:50 p.m. Perplexed at first, the firefighters used the department’s hydraulic spreaders to gently raise the tree just enough — a couple of inches, they said — to remove Gumm’s foot from underneath it.

“It was kind of a strange operation,” said BCFD Lieutenant Johnny Leatherwood. “What do you do? It’s standing on his foot, and you have to pick it up. But if you do, it may fall.”

How did they manage to keep the oak from toppling? “We did a whole lot of praying,” Leatherwood said. “But we had to get him out.”

Gumm was taken to an area hospital, where he was treated and released, foot largely intact. That result was far better than what firefighters expected when they first made the scene.

“His foot must have sunk up in the dirt,” Leatherwood said. “We thought it was going to be a whole lot worse.”


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## Jed1124 (Dec 3, 2014)

Stump Jump. No Face Cut. Lucky guy.


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## rwoods (Dec 3, 2014)

I believe the key phrase in the press release is: "braced by a couple of adjacent trees." Here are two shots of some of my past fence posting gone wrong. Ron


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