Just helped get a dead man off a tractor

Was working at one of my son's farms and the guy working with me is a rural fireman. He got a call that a guy just down the road was pinned by a tractor.
We jumped in my truck and rushed over.
Older fellow was trying to push a tree that was downed by the storm yesterday evening.
Smaller tractor with a front loader on it.
A limb sprung up over the bucket and sprung back and caught him just at the bottom of his ribs.
3 of us held the leg sized limb up while a pickup with a chain pulled the tractor backward.
2 firemen did CPR and when the ambulance got there, they checked him and it was no use.
He must of died quickly. He was about 70 years old.
Wife and his daughter that we know were there.
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE.
Richard in NW SC

Gosh, sure hate to hear of something like that, accidents happen in the blink of an eye

So sorry to hear that

had something similar happen a few years ago. Young man clearing downed trees with a small bulldozer no rops, had a limb snap back and killed him. Someone saw the bulldozer cross the road still going with him on it.

That's terrible. So sad for the family. Happens that I was in that exact position the other day, I was pushing a big downed box elder tree into the burn pile with tractor and bucket and wondered to myself what would happen if it rode up over the bucket. I stopped and cut it up smaller. There but by the Grace of God go I.

Richard,
Sure sorry to hear this. Prayers sent for the mans family... and for all of you who were involved in the rescue effort too (that's got to be an emotionally tough thing to experience).

(quoted from post at 08:27:28 06/26/18) Was working at one of my son's farms and the guy working with me is a rural fireman. He got a call that a guy just down the road was pinned by a tractor.
We jumped in my truck and rushed over.
Older fellow was trying to push a tree that was downed by the storm yesterday evening.
Smaller tractor with a front loader on it.
A limb sprung up over the bucket and sprung back and caught him just at the bottom of his ribs.
3 of us held the leg sized limb up while a pickup with a chain pulled the tractor backward.
2 firemen did CPR and when the ambulance got there, they checked him and it was no use.
He must of died quickly. He was about 70 years old.
Wife and his daughter that we know were there.
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE.
Richard in NW SC

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That is really terrible and I wonder how many close calls happen daily that we never hear about. I tend to think that lot of tractors operators know what they are doing but likely many don't know or become too blase about the dangers.

Sorry to hear that.

One of those helpless feelings that there was nothing that could be done...

Prayers for the family and you!

Thanks for the reminder around here there called a widow maker for a reason. Not long ago a guy i know was pushing trees with a skidloader and the tree rolled and pinned him in the same manner. He was lucky that day he had his cellphone in his shirt pocket and was able to get it out and call for help he wouldn't have got it out of his pants pocket.
One other one i remember and it had a better ending a guy working around his home flipped one and got pinned in (think what happens to the door no way to open if the loader is up and do you have something to break the glass) but his wife on seeing the accident ran into the house and came right back out with the camera after a few pictures she than called for help

Operating equipment can be dangerous even for people that have experience. I know of several situations where someone was pushing brush only to have a branch snap and injure them or damage equipment

Richard, that is terrible news and a very trying situation for you. Most times preventable. North of here, a town supervisor flipped one over last week, it was fatal.
I lost a long time friend last year to the same thing.

Trees can be very strong, I've had limbs or small trees with such spring to them, it would push a tractor backwards uphill. When pushing on one of these, you could tell it was a bad call to even fool with as it could ride up the loader arms and or push the tractor back.

That?s terrible, have heard of limbs caught in tire chains of skidder coming around or punching though sheer metal and killing operator before too.

That's bad. Can happen quick too.
A few years ago, my Dad had sawn a tree down and was trimming the limbs off. He reached down with the chain saw and sawed off a limb that he was unaware of it being in a bind. The limb instantly swung out hitting him in both shins, knocking his feet out from under him and landing him flat on his face. Took him awhile to recover enough to stand back up. Didn't break either leg but they turned deep purple over the next few days and caused a lot of pain.

Sorry to hear. I've had a couple of those type incidents.

2 years ago, I was mowing a path and a branch of a tree that I had previously cut because it was laying across the path was unseen in the brush. It caught the right rear tire and the tree got pulled into the operator station. Felt like someone swung a baseball bat at my leg. Luckily (if you can call it that) it was my right leg and I was able to stomp on the clutch. Happened REAL FAST. I sat for a moment to get my senses and realized my leg was pinned between the thigh-sized limb and the tranny case. Hurt like a bugger. Couldn't move it. I decided to try backing up SLOWLY. The branch was scraping along the leg pretty good but I was able to back out. Got off the tractor pulled down my jeans and a good chunk of skin on my shin was abraded away. Took a while to heal but thankfully no broken bones.

Since then I've taken to wearing a loggers helmet when I mow. 3 weeks ago I was mowing paths (again) and part of an overhanging limb that I thought I'd clear got caught under the canopy of my tractor. I heard a bang and before I could stop the tractor, the limb came off of the canopy and snapped [u:92877c17b1]underneath [/u:92877c17b1]it. Hit me HARD just above the visor of the helmet, knocked the loggers helmet off and some smaller branches scraped my face up pretty good as I moved forward through it. Then when it hit the ROPS, it came forward and whacked me on the back of the head. Luckily I was bending down to get out of the way and it was a glancing blow. Again, stopped the tractor, sat for a moment, got my senses back and checked for damage. Luckily none. I know I'd cleared that limb before, so I don't know what was different, maybe weight of new growth pulling it down, whatever.

As others have said, things happen VERY FAST. I've been clearing a lot of trees lately and have encountered numerous situations that could be dangerous: Widow makers, parts of trees under tension when you cut them, trees falling the wrong way, barber chairs. Before I start with the chain saw, I assess the "what ifs" and have tied off (successfully) potential problem areas with winches/ropes. But I'm sure that poor feller the OP wrote about thought he was on safe ground, too.