# Tree Cutter Falls 60 Feet To His Death



## HurricaneHunter (Jul 28, 2010)

My greatest concern is the possibility of a section of the tree failing below me. Sad to hear this. R.I.P. brother...
http://www.wsbtv.com/print/24426412/detail.html


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## tree md (Jul 29, 2010)

Scary, I am from that neck of the woods. Have they released the name yet?

Thoughts and prayers to the family.


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## Blakesmaster (Jul 29, 2010)

Looks like a legit company too. Decent website and equipment ( what we saw of it ) . #### can happen no matter how good you are. Rip brother.


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## treemandan (Jul 29, 2010)

RIP


But I wonder what he was doing in that tree. It looked like there were remote TIPs that should have been used.


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## Reg (Jul 29, 2010)

treemandan said:


> RIP
> 
> 
> But I wonder what he was doing in that tree. It looked like there were remote TIPs that should have been used.



He must have thought it was safe Dan, and got quite a way without changing his mind. But there must have came a point where he did something to initiate the failure....

Might have been the top....too wide a notch, too big a hinge....I assume he wasn't rigging! Whatever, its terrible news. RIP


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## Winn R (Jul 29, 2010)

We've got alot of dead hardwoods from the drought years here.

I just took down a 150 yr old dead red oak that fortunately wasn't close to anything but still had enough old stuff at the top to scare me. I can't picture someone being comfortable with climbing one of these.

My prayers for the man and his family.


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## Marty B (Aug 4, 2010)

*lots of trees in the area*

It's a pain in the ass, but a second climbing system in another near by tree could have saved his life. Can you fellows come up with other options that could have been deployed? A little study on this situation could prevent others from getting killed.


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## treeclimber101 (Aug 4, 2010)

Oh God thats awful , terrible when things like that happen , and they are a reminder to me to be careful and correct cause things can get real bad real quick ..


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## Matt Michael (Aug 4, 2010)

Marty B said:


> It's a pain in the ass, but a second climbing system in another near by tree could have saved his life. Can you fellows come up with other options that could have been deployed? A little study on this situation could prevent others from getting killed.



We should have some kind of accident investigation and analysis like we do in aviation. It could make a big difference


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## treeclimber101 (Aug 4, 2010)

29 is way too young I hope that he didn't have kids ..


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## tree md (Aug 4, 2010)

Matt Michael said:


> We should have some kind of accident investigation and analysis like we do in aviation. It could make a big difference



OSHA investigates all fatalities in our industry and makes a report. You can read these reports online. Not a bad idea to read some of them every now and then. Might save your life some day.


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## Matt Michael (Aug 5, 2010)

tree md said:


> OSHA investigates all fatalities in our industry and makes a report. You can read these reports online. Not a bad idea to read some of them every now and then. Might save your life some day.




from Osha... "requirement (to report) applies to each fatality or hospitalization of three or more employees"

That is going to leave a LOT of accidents and mishaps unreported.


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## tree md (Aug 5, 2010)

http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/toc_FatalFacts.html


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## pdqdl (Aug 9, 2010)

tree md said:


> OSHA investigates all fatalities in our industry and makes a report. You can read these reports online. Not a bad idea to read some of them every now and then. Might save your life some day.



No, they don't. Not always, at any rate.

I had a climber killed on the job, and I never heard from any government agency at all. Not that it would have done any good for the guy.


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## tomtrees58 (Aug 9, 2010)

TreeCo said:


> Scary! The photo shows a tree that looks like it had been dead for a long time.
> 
> R.I.P. tree Brother.


:agree2:man i dont like dead trees


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## prentice110 (Aug 9, 2010)

At this point in my career there are only 3 things that scare me. #1 the tree breaking, #2, an idiot on the rope, and #3, unexcpeted rot when Im cutting an important notch. My heart goes out to the friends and family. This particularly catches my attention. I turned 29 on friday.


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## Adkpk (Aug 10, 2010)

pdqdl said:


> Not that it would have done any good for the guy.



No not for him but for us the living. I think a thorough investigation into any arbor related dead would be a great benefit. Why was the tree rotten? Why wasn't it diagnosed as so? How extensive was the rot? What kind of tree? Much, much more. When I read these reports it's like they are saying, "so another tree guy". Wtf, it's not like an iron worker who doesn't wear a lanyard. We have harnesses it's usually the tree that gets us. Or gets you guys, I am way safe. :monkey: CSI Arborist. I'd be watching that all de time.


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## rarefish383 (Aug 22, 2010)

I was doing some storm damage work a couple weeks ago, when that storm tore up Germantown and Senaca, MD. I had a 36 inch white pine, about 90 feet, that got hit by lightning. It had a strip of bark blown out from about 10 feet from the top to the ground. The lightning continued to blow a furrow out one of the roots, maybe 15 to 20 feet. The plan was to limb it out as I went up and then dump the top out in the front yard. Got up about 60 feet, only planning on going another 15 or so, and the wind started to kick up. Holy Moly, I could see daylight through the center of the trunk. Put the bull line where I was and came down ASAP. Tied it to the truck and layed the whole thing across the front yard, about 2 acres clear field. When I started cutting up the log, in firewood lenghts, each block fell to pieces. I mean each block looked like it had been split in 8 to 10 pieces. That lightning blast shattered the trunk from 60 feet upto the groung. When I was younger I probably would have continued limbing it out, thinking I'd already removed my own weight, so what the heck. Now things like that scare the tar out of me. Be careful guys, Joe.


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