CLALLAM BAY — The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of an experienced Forks logger who was killed Tuesday when either a tree or three branch fell on him.
The man, whose name and age were being withheld until his family is told, was cutting down a tree in woods south of Clallam Bay prison, Clallam County Sheriff’s Chief Criminal Deputy Ron Cameron said.
“He was felling a tree and was somehow struck by either the tree or a branch of that tree,” Cameron said.
Cameron said the man was a longtime faller.
“He had a lot of experience,” the chief criminal deputy said.
Cameron wasn’t sure what time the accident happened, but the call to emergency dispatchers came across at about 1 p.m.
Emergency medical personnel responded but were unable to save the man.
Cameron didn’t know whose land the man was working on or if he was working with a group.
“Typically, fallers are independent contractors, and I believe this man was as well,” he said.
“The fallers come and fell the trees and then a company will come through to pick [the trees] up.”
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office routinely conducts an investigation in such deaths, but the incident does not appear to be suspicious, Cameron said.