A 41-year-old independent contractor doing some logging work in West Paris became trapped under his logging truck Thursday morning and had to be airlifted to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Billy Bailey of Phillips had been clearing out some woods off High Street when his forwarder – a type of truck used to stack logs in a flatbed – slid and trapped his lower legs under one of the tires, according to Deputy Josh Daley of the Oxford County Sheriff’s Department.

Another man who had been working with Bailey called for help at 8:20 a.m.

“He did not see what happened, but heard some sort of commotion coming from up the hill where Bailey was working,” Daley said.

Fire departments and emergency medical personnel from several neighboring towns responded. Bailey told rescue workers that he had been outside the forwarder trying to fix something when he became trapped.

“He said it started to slide,” Daley said. “We’re not sure why it started to slide. It was very icy and it was on a slope, so it may have just lost traction.”

Bailey, still conscious and responsive, was transported to the hospital at 10:50 a.m., Daley said.


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