SABATTUS — A Leeds man suffered a broken leg Thursday in a logging accident off Marsh Road, police said.
Philip Nickey, 59, had been operating a logging skidder near 201 Marsh Road shortly after 9 a.m. when he called dispatchers to say he had “severely broken” his leg, according to a news release from police Lt. Daniel Davies.
Nickey said he was losing consciousness. Although he hadn’t given his exact location, the dispatcher was able to locate his phone near 201 Marsh Road.
Davies said he was able to get to the skidder within minutes of Nickey’s call. Davies summoned Sabattus Fire and Rescue, which with the aid of United Rescue, got Nickey out of his skidder and took him to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston for treatment of his injuries.
Nickey told Davies he had been logging the property, securing downed trees to a twitch, a cabled device used to gather and drag trees with a skidder, to haul to a pickup location. One of the trees in the stack sprang free and pinned Nickey’s leg against another tree, Nickey told Davies. The force broke Nickey’s leg below the knee.
Nickey was able to reach a chain saw to cut the tree and free his leg, Davies wrote in his news statement.
After cutting himself free, Nickey managed to climb back into his skidder to get his cellphone, call 911 and drive the skidder about half a mile to where Davies found him.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
