# fatality:tree trimmer from ransomville ny



## treesurgeon (Mar 20, 2009)

3/20/09
john west 28 from ransomville new york died today while working in a tree on
amberwood dr., grand island new york.
tree trimmer falls from 40' from a large tree that broke at ground level. he was pronounced dead at kenmore-mercy hospital. 

this is all the information i watched from on the news at 5pm.


----------



## motoroilmccall (Mar 20, 2009)

Scary stuff... He was about 20 minutes from where our crew worked today. Did they say which company he worked for?


----------



## treesurgeon (Mar 20, 2009)

*not much info. yet*



motoroilmccall said:


> Scary stuff... He was about 20 minutes from where our crew worked today. Did they say which company he worked for?



no. just that he was a worker. i would think he is from a small tree service from ransomville. the news might update again later. 
this is about 35 minutes from me and its the closest fatality i could remember.
i pray for the family.


----------



## tree md (Apr 16, 2009)

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/tree_cutter_falls_to_death_on_job_090320


----------



## OLD CHIPMONK (Apr 20, 2009)

Sorry to hear this. I've always tried to leave dead or doubtfull trees to the old bucket truck.opcorn:


----------



## murphy4trees (Apr 21, 2009)

*learn something*

Sounds like he had a pull line in the top and was making a cut, asking (or not) the ground men to pull early before the hinge was thin enough to work and they pulled hard enough to cause the tree to break at the base... that can be a lot of leverage.. 
Anyone remember the thread where the winch line from the chipper broke in a similar scenario... easy way to die in this industry


----------



## treeclimber101 (Apr 21, 2009)

Last year a man was crushed here in Jersey when he removed the top as a large hitch and the tree snapped like a rubberband and fell on top of him and also almost killed the ground man... Sometimes guys go really big with there hitches ....


----------



## tree md (Apr 21, 2009)

I've got a large Oak to take down this week with a cavity rotted through nearly the whole base of the tree. Gonna have to rig from it. I'll try to get some pics if I can spare a man to take them. Gonna be a risky one.


----------



## treemandan (Apr 21, 2009)

tree md said:


> I've got a large Oak to take down this week with a cavity rotted through nearly the whole base of the tree. Gonna have to rig from it. I'll try to get some pics if I can spare a man to take them. Gonna be a risky one.



Is there another way to get it down? A few months ago I climb up this poplar I had been looking at for removal. We were set to kill. I climbed up to the rot spot, got spooked then ran back down and fetched the crane. Risk? How much risk? Get some pics.


----------



## tree md (Apr 21, 2009)

treemandan said:


> Is there another way to get it down? A few months ago I climb up this poplar I had been looking at for removal. We were set to kill. I climbed up to the rot spot, got spooked then ran back down and fetched the crane. Risk? How much risk? Get some pics.



I'll post some pics in the climbing forum when I get some Dano. Not to worry, I gots a plan.


----------

