A 63-year-old Toledo man died after an apparent logging accident Thursday outside of Toledo.
The Lewis County Coroner’s Office identified the man as Alex Oberg.
Law enforcement officers, firefighters and medics responded to the 200 block of Maw Road five miles east of Toledo at about 5 p.m. after a neighbor found the man pinned under a tree, said Sgt. Rob Snaza with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Oberg was not the property owner, but had been hired to do logging, he said. He was working alone at the time of the incident, which happened between 3 and 5 p.m.
The neighbor saw that his truck was still there at about 5 p.m., which was unusual, and went to check on him and found Oberg pinned by the tree, Snaza said. Oberg was last seen working at 3 p.m.
The Toledo man was deceased when medics arrived and it was apparent he had been dead for a while, said Toledo Fire Chief Grant Wiltbank.
Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said an autopsy is scheduled for Saturday, but there is no evidence to indicate it was anything other than an accidental death.
It appears the man was trying to use a “domino effect” logging technique in which he knocks down one tree to cause others to fall as well, Snaza said. It appears environmental factors, such as wind, caused one of the trees to fall prematurely, killing him.
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries will be investigating the circumstances of the death further, Snaza said.
