Fatal logging crew accident - SC

kebo · Jan 17, 2010

Saw this on a local TV website. It's not really tractors, but it is another reminder whenever you're around equipment, make sure the operator(s) know where you are at and can see you.

Worker Dies After Being Run Over on Logging Site

CALHOUN FALLS, S.C. (AP) -- A man working for a logging company in South Carolina has died on the job.

Authorities told WYFF-TV that 61-year-old Howard Wardlaw Junior was killed Thursday at a job site for Wilson Creek Logging near Calhoun Falls.

Investigators say Wardlaw was run over by a skidder being used to drag cut logs to a loading area where they were loaded onto trucks.

Authorities say Wardlaw worked for Wilson Creek Logging for eight years.

First one · Jan 18, 2010

Ya know,
I'm surprised that there isn't someone getting killed every week

Watching Axe Man and swamp Logging on tv is a trip. I try and pick up any tips I can when it comes to falling trees. They stress safety , but with all the machinery thats going on it only takes a second for something to happen.

escavader · Jan 18, 2010

I wonder if those companys on axe man are ever harrassed by OSHA for things an inspector might see on TV?
ALAN

arrow · Jan 18, 2010

This could have been a person who worked most of his life in the woods and yet, this accident stilll happened. The obnoxious guy who was taking logs out of the river, was fined $10000 for removing "wildlife habitat". He was also cited for taking that which did not belong to him witout obtaining a permit. How he is back, I'll never know.

kebo · Jan 19, 2010

Guess he got his permits this time?????

gerard · Jan 19, 2010

arrow said:
This could have been a person who worked most of his life in the woods and yet, this accident stilll happened. The obnoxious guy who was taking logs out of the river, was fined $10000 for removing "wildlife habitat". He was also cited for taking that which did not belong to him witout obtaining a permit. How he is back, I'll never know.

Yeah - guess it's better to just let them rot in the river. How much "greener" can you get than logging already felled tree's???????????? typical environmental stupidity interfering with someone making a living. No wonder MORE people aren't on welfare, it's SOOOOO much easier...........

First one · Jan 19, 2010

What do you think about the guy that feels around with his feet in that swamp water for logs?
You couldn't pay me enough to get in there .
I'd lose a leg to a gater the first time in or a toe to a snapper for sure.

spruce Deere · Jan 19, 2010

Stories like this are not as common as they use to be, But unfortunately the still happen. I have worked in 'the woods' for 18 years now and have had very close scrapes. Have done heli logging, park logging, fell timber for yarders all of it dangerous. But like tractors, farmn' ya know, it gets in your blood. Here are a few shots of what I have done or had a very intricate part of.

arrow · Jan 19, 2010

spruce Deere said:
Stories like this are not as common as they use to be, But unfortunately the still happen. I have worked in 'the woods' for 18 years now and have had very close scrapes. Have done heli logging, park logging, fell timber for yarders all of it dangerous. But like tractors, farmn' ya know, it gets in your blood. Here are a few shots of what I have done or had a very intricate part of.

Fond memories for me. never did heli logging and never got to use a grapple skidder. But I have almost the same tractor as you with my JD 750 that I log with. I too had some close ones but I lived to retire and I'm not too busted up.

spruce Deere · Jan 20, 2010

Here ya go arrow... Logg'n firewood with the 790. This is the "loading" after falling, bucking, skidding. All done with the 790 and the 6 foot rhino blade and homemade forks.

arrow · Jan 20, 2010

spruce Deere said:
Here ya go arrow... Logg'n firewood with the 790. This is the "loading" after falling, bucking, skidding. All done with the 790 and the 6 foot rhino blade and homemade forks.

Well, you hit a soft spot Spruce. I love seeing pics of people logging with their c.u.t.s. As the fenders on your trailer look fairly good, what method do you use to get the logs off the trailer when the tractor is still in the woods? This is changing from the Safety stand point I know. Maybe getting the logs off the trailer safely could be keep it here. Thanks for the pics.

The Haymaker · Jan 27, 2010

I wouldn't ever compare Axe Man or any of the other logging related shows to the real world. Drama Queens! Even the one up here in Maine was pretty bad, right down to having them roll trucks over with cranes to increase viewer appeal.

Here's an accident that happened several years ago, just a few miles up the road:

2000 Darwin Award: The Daily Grind

20 20 · Jan 27, 2010

Spruce Deere; thanks for the pictures, nothing like the start of a cold morning in the woods. I allways feel alive when in the middle of the woods 1st thing on a crisp morning. I believe it's probably the closest thing to a heaven there is, waiting for all the critters to start moving. I also hauled a lot of timber on a trailer much like yours'

spruce Deere · Jan 27, 2010

20 20 said:
Spruce Deere; thanks for the pictures, nothing like the start of a cold morning in the woods. I allways feel alive when in the middle of the woods 1st thing on a crisp morning. I believe it's probably the closest thing to a heaven there is, waiting for all the critters to start moving. I also hauled a lot of timber on a trailer much like yours'

You bet 20 20. There is no other job on the planet like working in the forests of this great nation.

MikePA · Jan 31, 2010

arrow said:
The obnoxious guy who was taking logs out of the river, was fined $10000 for removing "wildlife habitat". He was also cited for taking that which did not belong to him witout obtaining a permit. How he is back, I'll never know.

I could never figure out, and the show never explained, how he could simply pull logs out of a creek. Those logs were once trees on someones property. If they had to use a wildlife statute to nail him, works for me.

cdcole · Jan 31, 2010

First one said:
Ya know,
I'm surprised that there isn't someone getting killed every week:

You know. I saw an episode where they let a green horn try to free a cable. It nearly took off his head. How can they do that?...the young man did not know what was going to happen...and they laughed at him as the cable broke free.

kebo · Jan 31, 2010

MikePA said:
I could never figure out, and the show never explained, how he could simply pull logs out of a creek. Those logs were once trees on someones property. If they had to use a wildlife statute to nail him, works for me.

Apparently the guy pulling logs out of the river never got around the permit issue. He and his dopey son left Wash. St. and went to FLorida to do the same thing. He hooked up with another logger down there and they are pulling logs of out rivers/swamps only now he has to deal with gators!!!

Honestly, he and his son are so inept that I think the producer want them on the show for the comedic affect. In other words, they act like clowns most of the time!!

spruce Deere · Jan 31, 2010

kebo said:
Apparently the guy pulling logs out of the river never got around the permit issue. He and his dopey son left Wash. St. and went to FLorida to do the same thing. He hooked up with another logger down there and they are pulling logs of out rivers/swamps only now he has to deal with gators!!! Honestly, he and his son are so inept that I think the producer want them on the show for the comedic affect. In other words, they act like clowns most of the time!!

Takes all kinds to make things go 'round. Wether' we need'em or not we got them. Nobody would want him around on a regular logg'n crew, a risk for everyone... Completely inept, oblivious to laws and common sence. He is a big black eye for good people in the timber industry. Entertainment has no place in logging, just on T.V. Good thing history channel picked him up, he would have just become a problem at the unemployment office, trying to salvage the wooden hand railing or something.

FlaDon · Jan 31, 2010

MikePA said:
I could never figure out, and the show never explained, how he could simply pull logs out of a creek. Those logs were once trees on someones property. If they had to use a wildlife statute to nail him, works for me.

I'd love to see him try that in the creek that runs thru the farm in Ohio. He'd likely find himself shot by a land owner. As our deed states, we own the land and only the water is controlled by the Gov't. I'd assume that the other deeds read the same.

Our neighbor does the logging for us and most other farmers in the area. Too darn dangerous working the west side of the creek as it's steep and full of copperheads.

The Haymaker · Jan 31, 2010

spruce Deere said:
Takes all kinds to make things go 'round. Wether' we need'em or not we got them. Nobody would want him around on a regular logg'n crew, a risk for everyone... Completely inept, oblivious to laws and common sence. He is a big black eye for good people in the timber industry. Entertainment has no place in logging, just on T.V. Good thing history channel picked him up, he would have just become a problem at the unemployment office, trying to salvage the wooden hand railing or something.

I've yet to see reality on a show based in "reality"......