Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center report of Alabama incident
(Wildland Fire LLC photo)
April 2, 2019
William B. Bankhead National Forest, Alabama
“As soon as the Dozer Operator’s blade touched the snag, the holding wood snapped. The Dozer Operator watched as the tree fell toward his cab. He wanted the Sawyer to “get out of there” and clear the area of the falling snag. The Sawyer freed the saw, set it down, and as he turned away from the falling snag — attempting to clear the area — he heard the snap of the holding wood.
The tree struck the dozer’s cab and pivoted off the dozer blade. The Dozer Operator looked back toward the Sawyer just in time to see that he had been launched vertically into the air. The Sawyer’s boots were literally at the Dozer Operator’s eye level. The Sawyer was catapulted by the butt of the snag and landed on a downed tree he had cut earlier.”
