Osburn man injured in logging accident

WALLACE­­ — Logging can be a dangerous profession, especially if things don’t go as you planned.

Emergency Crews from Shoshone County Fire District No. 1 (SCFD1) and the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call up Dobson pass Sunday morning for a report of an injured male.

Charlotte Binkoski, SCFD1 fire fighter/ EMT, tells the News-Press that the 27- year old male sustained injuries to his left shoulder and head when he fell a red fir that had a tamarack tree leaning against it off of forest service road 424.

“When the patient realized the tamarack was falling in his direction, he went to move out of the way, but got his right leg stuck in other branches,” Binkoski explained.

“The trunk of the tree made contact with his upper body. Luckily, most of the force appeared to have struck his left shoulder, but the side and back of his head was also hit and had an enormous laceration, as well as blunt force trauma.”

The male’s friend, who was logging with him, called 911 following the injury and drove him to a turnaround back on FR 424.

His family also met him at the turnaround to comfort him.

Spike Angle, reserve SCSO Deputy, was next on scene and assisted by controlling the area, facilitating communication, assisting with moving the male to the ambulance, and directing them back into town.

EMS arrived at the turnaround at 9:04 a.m. and immediately requested a life flight helicopter due to “mechanism of injury and first impression of injury.”

Initially dispatch to the field in front of Wallace High School, the helicopter’s landing zone was changed to the football field in Silverton due to that area having more room to operate in.

Emergency crews with the male left the scene and headed toward Silverton at 9:26 a.m.

The Life Flight helicopter landed just as the ambulance pulled up to the field.

A Flight Nurse and Flight Paramedic them jumped into the ambulance for interventions, medications, and transfer of patient care before getting the male loaded into the helicopter.

Once this process was completed, the male was taken to Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene for treatment.

Binkoski was pleased with how the situation was handled and was impressed with the Life Flight crews.

“We have had awesome experiences with Lifeflight crews,” she said.

“They are always incredibly experienced, knowledgeable, and professional.”

In addition to their handling of this situation, Binkoski also expressed how thankful she and the department is with having Life Flight as a resource.

“They...provide a really important service to our area, namely, expedited access to specialized medical resources. We are so lucky to have the quality of care provided at SMC, but there just aren’t any options for specialized care in rural areas. So as an EMS provider, I love having multiple options for our patients based on what I’m seeing.”

When responding to the incident and loading the patient onto the ambulance, emergency crews also received help from at least 7 volunteers.

Binkoski, and the rest of our local first responders, are incredibly appreciative of this kind of help.

“In the past week, we’ve had an increase in volunteer activity, including veteran volunteers returning to help out here again. As a small department, that is so encouraging, and it’s really exciting for the future of our district.”