THORNDIKE — A Unity man pinned by a fallen tree Saturday morning was taken to a Waterville hospital after he used his cellphone to call for help.

Thorndike Fire Chief Peter Quimby, declining to release the injured man’s name, said firefighters received a page at 10:10 a.m. notifying them that a logger was wedged beneath a tree.

The man had been using a chain saw to cut a tree on his property off Parsons Valley Road, near the Lewis gravel pit. The tree that the man was cutting toppled onto another tree, causing the second tree to fall and pin the logger from behind, Quimby said.

The man’s upper body was pinned by limbs, rather than by the 10-inch-diameter trunk, and the logger appeared to have injured his back and a leg, the fire chief said.

Five firefighters, four members of the Unity ambulance crew and about a half-dozen neighbors who work in the woods and heard about the accident came to the scene, he said.

The injured man first called his wife with his cell phone, Quimby said, addng that firefighters arrived on scene in five minutes and used chain saws to cut away limbs that were pinning the logger.

Advertisement

Quimby said the injured logger, who was wearing protective gear, was conscious and talking with rescuers during the hourlong extrication.

He said the Unity ambulance’s driver maneuvered along the icy logging road to the site and that the injured man was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center’s Thayer Campus in Waterville.

Beth Staples — 861-9252

bstaples@centralmaine.com


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.