COYLE –– Emergency officials have identified Jeremy Paapke as the logger killed by a fallen tree off Coyle Road on Thursday afternoon.
Quilcene Deputy Fire Chief Bob Moser said Paapke, 23, of Port Angeles was felling trees with a crew on a sloped hillside when a nearby tree fell, striking him with large limb.
Pappke’s co-workers carried him up the hill where rescue workers from the Quilcene and Port Ludlow fire departments and East Jefferson Fire-Rescue administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation for about 45 minutes before Paapke was pronounced dead at 1:39 p.m.
Moser said it appeared Paapke died quickly after being struck.
A helicopter from Airlift Northwest standing by at Zelatched Point was then released.
Moser was unsure what firm Paapke was working for.
The Associated Press reported Thursday night that Paapke was the second logger to die this week in Washington state.
Donald J. Wolcott, 61, of Cathlamet died after a tree he was cutting on land owned by Weyerhaeuser in Columbia County fell, struck him and pinned him to the ground, AP reported.
Earlier report:
COYLE –– An unidentified logger died after he was crushed by a tree Thursday afternoon.
East Jefferson Fire-Rescue crews found the man dead on scene after they were called to Coyle Road on the Toandos Peninsula at about 1 p.m.
Emergency responders administered CPR, but the man did not respond to attempts to revive him, spokeswoman Keppie Keppinger said.
Officials did not identify the man because they had not yet notified next of kin.
Keppinger said the man was a timber faller in his 20s, but she was unsure if he was working at the time the tree fell.
Several local and state agencies were on the scene investigating Thursday afternoon.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
