Chainsaw Training Tree Injury 2012

On December 20, 2012, personnel from the Florida Forest Service (FFS) conducted an S-212 Wildland Fire Chain Saws class at the Florida Center for Wildfire & Forest Resources Management Training. At approximately 1340 hours, a Florida Forest Service Firefighter was struck in the head by a segment of a nearby dead snag that was connected, by vines, to the top of the tree that was being felled. The segment that fell and inflicted injury was approximately 20 feet long and 8 inches in diameter. FFS Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) were on scene and treated the Firefighter for head injuries, multiple abrasions and numbness to his right side. The Firefighter was rapidly airlifted to Bayonet Point Medical Center where he received surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck and was treated for a concussion and fractured orbital socket.