A worker for the City of Waycross was injured last week in an accident while trimming a tree in Monroe Park.
Public Works Director James Smart said Friday the member of his department was with a crew cutting down a dead tree on Tuesday morning, October 11, when the mishap took place. The worker was in the bucket of the city’s truck used for high level work when the top of the tree snapped from a gust of wind and came down on the arm that holds the bucket.
Smart said a portion of the tree came to rest on the worker’s right arm causing the injury. He said the worker was transported to Memorial Satilla Health for immediate treatment, then airlifted to Savannah where he had surgery for the injury.
Smart said a member of the worker’s family told him the surgery was successful, and the worker was eager to return to work when cleared.
“He said he’d be in the next day if he could,” Smart said.
The director called the incident a “freak accident.” The procedure is one the department uses numerous times to bring down dead trees throughout the city.
He said the crew had notched one side of the tree and ropes had been placed on its upper part to guide it down after the other notch was cut. Smart said that’s what the worker was doing when the wind came up.
“The bucket will only reach so high (about 20-30 feet) so the top of the tree was roped off to pull it in the way it was supposed to fall,” Smart said. “(Worker) was notching the other side when the wind started blowing and brought the top down.”
Smart said the portion that fell was about two feet in diameter. The tree was located on the Baltimore Avenue side of the park near the playground.
