Tree Felling: Safety First

Reader Contribution by Bruce Mcelmurray
Published on September 18, 2017
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Safety reminders can come at unexpected times. We have lived in the mountains of S. Colorado full time in our small cabin for over twenty years. During that time I have cut many dead trees for firewood. The longer we do certain tasks the more familiar we become with the procedure and the more confident we become. Recently I went to cut a dead aspen tree that was about 40’ high, dead and straight and tall. This particular tree had a clear area to fall into except for a small 15’ pine tree in its falling path. A pine tree this size should easily push aside or break off; therefore I did not pay it that much attention. That turned out to be a serious mistake and my wrong assumption cost me dearly.

There are several ways to fell trees and the most common is cutting a notch on the side it is to fall and then cutting from the opposite side of the tree to the notch hinge. I usually reserve that technique for larger trees and on smaller trees like the aspen I cut on a downward angle and almost through the tree and then use wedges to force the tree to fall where I want it to. (not a recommended method). That is the technique I chose to use with this tree. (see photo)

Everything went as planned and the tree proceeded to fall right where designated. I had plenty of time to step back out of the way putting myself a safe distance from the base of the tree. Suddenly things went very wrong. The aspen tree fell with precision into the smaller pine tree and the pine bent over holding and supporting the middle of the aspen tree. The base of the aspen shot up about 15’ into the air and then the pine tree sprung back throwing the aspen like a spear back toward me but above me. The base of the aspen hit another rather larger pine behind me and then started to roll down the limbs of the large pine tree toward where I assumed I was safe. I reacted by ducking under the falling tree to the opposite side but I did not quite make the preventive move fully.

I ended up on the opposite side of the falling tree lying parallel to it and on the ground. I have a serious bruise on my hip to show for my wrong assumption. I had made a common mistake by wrongfully assuming that this aspen tree was large enough to strip branches from the small pine tree or break it off on its way down. That mistake came very close to being fatal and I’m more aware now of not making assumptions but instead apply more calculated evaluations. I’m thankful for being able to write this blog which I am hoping will benefit others from making a similar mistake.

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