Kevin Koski

[#1]

About  three weeks ago I was at one the Amish sawmills that I work with.  The owner of the mill told me about the really bad news that occurred to a member of the logging crew that supplies him with his logs.  The logging crew was working way back in the woods in NW Pennsylvania, and the worst thing that can be imagined happened.  A young man was killed by a kickback.  A kickback is when the tree that is being cut slams back into the logger instead of falling straight down.    I heard that in this case the top got caught in another tree on the way down which caused the butt end of the log to hit him. I do not know this for sure though as  I heard this news second hand.   As the tree kick backed, it slammed into his chest area and threw him into another tree.  The article from the newspaper said it was a log he was pushed against, but I heard from a few Amish sources that it was another tree.  He was all of 18 years old.  His brother was the woods foreman, and was a witness to his  death.  They heard the young man yell twice for help.  By the the time they ran over to him he was almost gone.  A few moments later he was.

There won't be lawsuits, or blame assigned by the young man's next of kin.  The Amish do not look at life, and death this way.  My Amish friend Benny was killed by a drunk driver a decade ago.  When someone asked his widow with 8 kids, if she was going to file a lawsuit she replied that Benny's death was God's will.  Whether it was a drunk driver that killed him on the road, or if he was killed logging, it doesn't matter to the Amish.  When God calls you, you go.

 http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20101008/NEWS09/101008028/Amish-logger-killed-in-Pennsylvan...

Thanks for reading

Kevin

[#2]

This is very sad, my heart goes out to the  family. This is just another example of how dangerous logging can be.

[#3]

Stories like this, although very sad, give us a heads up that cutting a tree is not always that straight forward.  A few years back, after a windstorm in the mountains of the Catskills felled a tree against my home - the tree had uprooted partially and was leaning against the house.  When I cut the tree to begin to remove it, the pressure of the partially uprooted tree snapped the root section backwards.  I was anticipating this but I was surprised at the ferocity of the kick-back.  You always have to assess the situation prior to the cut and be aware of pent up forces in the tree parts.  If anyone was standing behind the tree root system .....

[#4]

I was helping a neighbor clear out a dying tree a couple years ago and had a branch come down and bounced off a stacked pile of lumber, then kicked into the ladder I was on and dropped my down about twenty feet. Still hurting from that but was very lucky. NO matter how careful you think you are there is always something that can cause injury or death.

[#5]

Logging is a very dangerous business and takes it's toll on the people who do the work.  It is a sad situation but the Amish philosophy is a good one.  I'm getting up in age and my worst fear is that I will live a long life dumping in my diapers.  But 18 is too young.  I owned a wood lot in NH for many years and cut a lot of trees for firewood and lumber.  But when I needed something I didn't trust myself to do, I called on my professional logger and paid him well. 

[#6]

My heart goes out to the friends and relatives of this kid. The statistics are clear: logging is the most dangerous occupation in the country, and felling trees is the most dangerous part of logging. As a logging safety professional I've had the misfortune to investigate too many timber felling deaths. Most were the result of not knowing or following proper procedures. Those of us who randomly pick up a chainsaw to cut down a tree or buck up a blow down are at greatest risk because we lack the knowledge and skill to recognize associated danger. Folks who don't do this for a living should seek professional assistance when felling and bucking trees.

[#7]

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  We should praise him for both beacuse timing is never flawed.  He always knows best.

[#8]

And people who want firewood complain about my price! They don't consider the $1500 for my saws, the $1200 log slitter, the hard work and back pain of sawing,lifting and loading, and stacking it where they want it and above all the danger and risks such as pointed out here.

[#9]

The lessons we need to take for ourselves from this tragedy:

1) Once a tree starts creaking and falling, never, ever stand in or near the line of its fall. Shut off your chainsaw immediately and then step SIDEWAYS a healthy distance away from the tree. You have, of course, first cleared away the undergrowth, fallen branches, etc., to allow a clear sideways path of retreat.

2) Know and respect the limitations of your tree-felling knowledge and skills. If in any doubt, enlist the help of someone more experienced, even if you must pay them for it.

[#10]

It isn't always the felling of trees that is dangerous.  Just because they are on the ground doesn't mean they have given up trying to kill you.  I dropped a bunch of maples in the summer that were in the way for a new building that now holds my dry kiln.  I was walking down the stems and cutting the limbs off the felled trees.  One of the limbs had a suprise for me.  As I bent over to cut the limb, in a millisecond, out explodes a young beech that was pinned under the limb I had cut (aka springpole).  The limb I cut had the young beech bent, and coiled waiting to get one last shot at me. I never saw it as there were a lot of leaves in the way. The beech hit me on the bridge of my nose breaking my nose.  Blood spouted out of the cut like a drinking fountain.  I still have the scar to this day. Eventhough I am not as pretty as I used to be, guess I was lucky. It sure could have been a lot worse.