Re: OT - More on wood chipper death
- From: "tiny dancer" <tinydancer357@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 14:06:59 -0500
"Indigo Ace" <indigoace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:43b8d34c.92814921@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Not for the weak of stomach. From the Denver Post--
>
> Routine job turned horrific
> Tree trimmer powerless to save boss caught in wood chipper
> By John Ingold
> Denver Post Staff Writer
>
> Chad Swank was standing in the basket of a cherry-picker truck
> Wednesday afternoon, using a chain saw to trim branches from a large,
> dead tree at a house in Loveland.
>
> His boss and longtime tree- trimming partner, Brian Ganiard Morse, was
> on the ground, feeding the branches into a wood chipper. It was
> nothing out of the ordinary for the pair, who were both certified tree
> trimmers and had worked on jobs together off and on for about six
> years.
>
> Swank started to cut a branch, and, per his usual habit, looked down
> to make sure the area underneath was clear. That's when he noticed
> something was wrong.
>
> He saw Morse lying on the hopper of the chipper. Puzzled, Swank said,
> he thought that Morse must have turned the chipper off and been
> working on the machine. Swank shut off his saw to check.
>
> But the chipper was still running at full speed. And Morse, his legs
> motionless, was slowly being pulled into it.
>
> "So many things go through your mind at that point," Swank said.
>
> Frantic, Swank swung one leg out of the basket, then the other until
> he was hanging from the basket. He let go and fell about 15 to 20
> feet.
>
> He sprinted to the chipper, but he knew there was nothing he could do.
>
> "It's one of those things I'm still kind of numb to," Swank said
> Thursday. "I don't know how to feel quite yet. ... It's one of those
> things where you don't believe what is happening is happening."
>
> On Thursday, Morse's family and friends, fellow arborists and
> authorities tried to better understand an accident that has attracted
> so much attention for its pure shock value.
>
> The Larimer County coroner's office conducted an autopsy, and, using
> fingerprints, they officially identified Morse, the 54-year-old owner
> of Brian's Tree Trimming and Removal Service in Loveland, as the
> victim.
>
> Following the autopsy, the coroner's office released a statement
> saying the victim was pulled entirely through the chipper. "Total
> morselization" is how the statement put it.
>
> Since there were no witnesses to the start of the accident,
> investigators are speculating that Morse got a glove caught in the
> chipper and couldn't get free.
>
> "What took place before the glove got caught is what we're still
> trying to look into," said Dean Beers, an investigator with the
> coroner's office.
>
> Beers said the chipper had a handle that, when activated, would
> reverse the movement of the chipper's feeder gears. It is unclear
> whether Morse could have reached the handle when the accident
> occurred.
>
> Swank, as well as the owner of another tree service in Loveland, said
> Morse was exceptionally careful.
>
> "He was a very good Christian man who always emphasized safety," Swank
> said. "It was an accident. We don't call them intentionals."
>
> Even in an exceptionally perilous job such as tree trimming, the
> dangers of the wood chipper stand out, said Roy Barnhart, who owns
> Roy's Tree Service in Loveland and who knew Morse. The chipper in this
> accident, a Vermeer BC1250A, has the capacity to shred trees up to a
> foot in diameter, according to its manufacturer. It would probably
> take only a few seconds for the chipper's blades to turn such a tree
> into mulch, Barnhart said.
>
> Meanwhile, the gears that grab branches and pull them toward the
> blades are unforgiving.
>
> "The human body has no chance" if something gets caught, Barnhart
> said.
>
> Morse leaves behind his wife, a son and two grandsons, about whom he
> talked constantly, Swank said.
>
> Morse enjoyed jogging and had run several marathons.
>
> Barnhart said Morse was something of a perfectionist.
>
> "He was a man who loved his work," Barnhart said. "He was a man who
> was very particular in how he did things. That's why it's hard to
> understand how this happened, because he was very careful all the
> time."
>
> http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3355433
>
> --
> Anne
My god what a horrible thing to have happen. I mean, what can anyone say.
This has to be one of the most tragic stories I've read in a long time. His
poor family.
td
> indigoace at goodsol period com
> http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
.
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