December 17, 2007
A close call
A close friend e-mailed with an account of his brush with death this past weekend; with his permission, here it is.
I thought you might enjoy a story about a dangerous event that nearly killed me on Saturday. It seems weird starting it this way, but I haven't been that close to the edge in quite some time.
Saturday, I decided we needed more fire wood for the house -- you know we heat our home with wood from the local forest. We were "green" long before it became fashionable to be so.
Anyway, I drove up to Matilija Canyon to the family cabin to pick up some old wood from the pile I made last spring, and to cut down one or more dead oak trees on the property for next year's stove wood-stash. Things went well, as I cut the old pile into smaller logs with my trusty chain saw and moved the pieces to my truck. A nice day in the forest doing manual labor... I love it.
I walked up on the hill behind the house to an old, dead oak tree that was cracked at the base and partially resting on the ground. I made a few deep cuts and huge pieces fell to the ground around the giant trunk.I stopped for a while and sat under the tree. The quiet of the day was great -- a doe and her two fawns walked close by to see what I was up to; I thought to myself, "Life is good today."
I moved over to the next large, dead oak tree. The tree was about thirty feet long, twenty-five inches in diameter at the base, cracked from its own weight and leaning across the hillside. I started at the base of the trunk near the fracture with my chain saw.As I cut, the tree CRACKED loudly and slumped further over into the hillside, but it didn't fall to the ground as I had expected. I moved onto the high side of the tree -- standing about half way down its length looking it over to find the best spot to relieve the tension and make it fall to the ground. I found what I thought was the right spot for a first cut and marked it with a saw line.
As I started cutting, everything looked OK; the tree moved a bit and started to grab the saw blade. I pulled the chainsaw back and forth to make the cut a little wider and then pulled the blade out of the wood. Taking into account the pressure from the weight of the tree, I decided a "V" cut on one side would work to bring the tree down.The oak was about eighteen inches in diameter at this spot -- I know because I was using an 18" chainsaw and the blade would not cut all the way through the tree on a single pass.
I got about half way down the "V" cut and suddenly the tree explodes! All the pent-up energy and pressure from its massive weight released in an instant, as it fell right into me and knocked me to the ground. I held tightly onto the chainsaw as the trunk pushed me down, and I watched as the whirring blade bent 90 degrees before my eyes, the razor-sharp teeth flying around the gears, inches from my face, until it finally ground to a halt.
Before I knew it, everything stopped; no sound, all was still. The debris and dust around me blurred the sunlight. I was on my back with a tree about the size of a telephone pole laying across my pelvis, my legs wrapped over another smaller limb. I could feel some of the weight of the tree on my body, but it didn't feel like a lot.I leaned back and took a deep breath. Was I alive? It was the weirdest sensation, no sound, my heart racing (at least I thought it was) ... I couldn't really figure out what had happened, but as I lay on the ground I suddenly realized I was trapped, couldn't move.
I took a few minutes to calm down. I wasn't bleeding (that I could tell), I wasn't in pain; I just couldn't move -- not even an inch. No cell phone to call for help (it wouldn't work up there anyway), no one else around. Here I was on a hill beneath a giant oak."Shit! This is not good," I thought, yet I felt surprisingly peaceful. The sun was shining on my face, I looked up into the sky. "Hmm, is this it?" I thought to myself, "Not bad, really -- a nice day in the forest, sun shining, quiet and I don't really hurt anywhere."
After a couple minutes, I ran through what to do next in mind. Should I yell for help? I wondered if anyone was even in the canyon to hear me. I thought George might be home across the road; maybe he would hear my shouts. As I lay there, I wondered how long I could last if I couldn't get out from under the tree. "Maybe I'll be stuck here until night fall, four hours away ... Damn, its cold at night this time of year. Now what?"
It's funny how your mind works in a situation like this. I didn't think I was injured, but I still wasn't real sure I was OK. After a few more minutes, I decided to wiggle around and see if I could pull myself out. As a moved around, the tree shifted a bit and started to push down on my pelvis -- Yikes! I have to be still.I found a piece of wood about ten inches in diameter within reach, moving it next to my body -- kind of like a jack between the hill and the massive oak. As I wriggled and twisted beneath the trunk, more of the tree's weight was transferred onto the block. Now I could I reach under my body and scoop dirt out from beneath me. I dug and squirmed for about forty minutes and finally cleared enough space to slide my ass out and away from the tree. I was free!
I picked up the bent chainsaw, walked around the tree and down to my truck. The next thing I remember was talking to my daughter on my cell phone as I drove down the canyon.
I went straight home, picked up my wife and daughter and drove to the best hamburger joint in Ojai (Jim &Rob's) for my favorite cheeseburger.
Lucky? I think so.I drove back up to the site, without the chain saw, on Sunday to see what happened. I walked up to the spot where I was imprisoned and could now see that tree missed landing on my chest by inches. I'd dug a much deeper hole in the hillside with my hands than I had thought, and the wood block I'd used to hold the tree up was still there, lifting the trunk about eight inches off the hillside.
I grabbed a small branch and carefully pushed on the block to see what would have happened if I hadn't put it there.
THUNK!
The earth shook as the tree slammed into the ground, right where I had lain the day before.
In retrospect, two things were clear: someone was looking out for me Saturday, and that Jim & Rob's hamburger sure tasted great.
It's shocking how quickly a normal, run-of-the-mill day can turn deadly. My friend assures me he'll be more careful in the future -- and make sure someone's around the next time he decides to do any work up in the hills.
I told him he ought to buy a lottery ticket; he already had.
Posted by Mike Lief at December 17, 2007 01:28 PM
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