The T-S is reporting three separate logging-related accidents in which locals died over the weekend:

  • 66-year-old Thomas Alan Rea died on Friday after being hit by a log on his property in Garberville while cutting fire wood.
  • 53-year-old William Stanley Thomas was found dead at a Sierra Pacific logging site in Kneeland on Friday after he was struck by a nearby rotting oak
  • 23-year-old Jason Meng was struck and killed by a small redwood tree on Saturday while setting chokers.

For more details go here. In an article published back in August, CNN listed logging as the number one most dangerous job in America, noting that 127.8 workers per 100,000 die annually.

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UPDATE 2:08 P.M.: Humboldt Coroner’s Press Release:

At about 1600 hours on Friday, October 18, 2013, a man was found pulseless on his property in Garberville. Garberville Ambulance and CalFire responded to the -scene and determined Thomas Alan Rea, age 66, of Garberville, CA was deceased.  It appears he was struck by a log he was working on while he was cutting firewood on his own property. He died as a result of Blunt Force Trauma.

At about 2030 hours on Friday, October 18, 2013, a man failed to return home from working as a timber faller. His wife alerted his co-workers who searched for William Stanley Thomas, age 53, of Mad River, CA and found him deceased at the logging site, located on Sierra Pacific Industries land off located south of Stapp Road in Kneeland. Just as he felled a large fir tree he was struck by a black oak tree that fell for an unknown reason.  A portion of the oak tree was rotten.  An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday, October 241h.

At about 1130 hours on Saturday, October  19, 2013, a man working as a choker setter was struck by a small redwood tree that fell when the small tree was struck by a log that was being yarded up the slope. City Ambulance of Eureka, and Humboldt Bay Fire responded to the scene. Jason Danial Nelson-Meng, age 23, of Eureka, CA was declared deceased at the scene. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday, October 23rd.