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Tree Gives Way, Pins Logger In Beaver County, Pa.
INDEPENDENCE TOWNSHIP, Pa. --
Crews rescued a tree logger Wednesday evening when a tree gave way, pinning him to the ground.
The man and other crew members were cutting a tree near McCune Road and Tank Farm Road in Independence Township, Beaver County.
Independence Township police said the victim, who has not been identified, moved to the bottom of the hill to cut the tree's base when the tree fell, landing on top of the man's legs. Crews removed the tree from the man's legs by the time emergency officials arrived at the scene.
"He had cut a tree stump and continued down the hill to finish cutting the tree. Part of the tree at the top let go and rolled down the hill, injuring his legs," Aliquippa fire Capt. J.T. Pennington said.
A rope rescue involved response teams from Aliquippa, Baden and Chippewa Township.
"We had to call rope rescue in to help extricate him from over the hillside," said Dean Felgar, an emergency responder.
"A low-angle rescue was all it was, nothing too major, just a simple Z-system to bring the patient up over the hill and set that up rather rapidly," Aliquippa Fire Chief David Foringer said.
That Z system -- a rope and pulley system -- involved nearly a dozen responders working together to carry the man -- alert and awake -- to safety.
The man was taken to UPMC-Presbyterian in Pittsburgh. The man's identity and condition were not being released Wednesday evening, nor was the name of the logging company that employs him.
Tree Lands On Man's Legs In Independence TownshipCopyright 2009 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
