FORKS — Nicholas Rodriguez, 25, was identified Tuesday afternoon by a state Department Labor and Industries official as the Forks man who died Monday in an industrial logging accident in the remote Nolan Creek area of Jefferson County.
In a second, unrelated incident, logger Josiah Rodman, 21, of Port Angeles, a timber feller, was hit Tuesday morning by a falling tree near Lake Ozette in Clallam County, said Brian King, West End Clallam County sheriff’s sergeant.
Rodman was treated and discharged from Forks Community Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Rodriguez was hit by a swinging log, said Rick White, a state Department of Labor and Industries health and safety compliance officer.
Rodriguez was later pronounced dead at Forks Community Hospital after he was hit at about 9:15 a.m.
Rodriguez was an experienced rigging slinger-chokerman, White said.
In an earlier report, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said he was filling in at a position that was not his permanent post.
The incident is being investigated by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Labor & Industries.
Sheriff’s office authorities would not confirm the logger’s name, saying that they could not verify that his wife had been contacted.
White said she had been told.
Wind, rain and low-lying fog were present during both incidents, authorities said.
Commercial job site
Rodriguez was struck at a commercial job site 25 miles south of Forks and southwest of the Hoh River in Jefferson County, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Allen said in an earlier interview.
The emergency call was made at 9:29 a.m. Monday.
Allen said he arrived at the site about an hour later.
Weather conditions prevented a rescue helicopter from reaching Rodriguez.
The fatality was the second industrial logging death this year in Jefferson County and seventh in the state of Washington, more than three
times the average of one or two a year, Labor and Industries spokeswoman Elaine Fischer said.
The have been no logging fatalities in Clallam County in 2014.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
