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TREE EXCAVATION TURNS INTO
RESCUE RESPONSE
 A
man was pulled from the badly crushed cab of a
track hoe February 11, 2009, after a 75-foot evergreen
tree fell on him as he tried to excavate it from
some property near Shoreline in Lake Forest Park. Shoreline’s
rescue response involved assistance from Northshore, Edmonds, and Bothell Fire
Departments—and required over 25 firefighters.
It happened around 3:00pm with a 9-1-1 call
reporting a tree had fallen at a construction
site near NE 192nd and 15th Northeast.
Shoreline Firefighters arrived to find a track
hoe still running, with the operator trapped in
the cab. A nearly 2-foot wide tree trunk crushed
the cab. The man had apparently been trying to
dig the roots of the tree out, when it shifted
and fell toward the rig.
The extrication took over 50 minutes, as rescue
crews had to stabilize the track hoe on a
hillside. They also had to cut the tree in
several pieces, and protect the patient from
further injury as he sat unable to move in the
cab.
Firefighters and paramedics at the scene said
the man was conscious and able to communicate
throughout the ordeal. He was taken to
Harborview Medical Center with possible multiple
traumatic injuries.
February 11,
2009
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