Logging accident prompts air rescue

Two helicopters were needed to assist a logger who was clipped by a falling tree near Calico Creek up Thompson River, Thursday, July 26.

Around 9:30 a.m. a caller reported a logging accident with instruction that a company vehicle would meet the ambulance where Thompson River Road meets with Highway 200. Life Flight was summoned with an expected arrival 30 minutes later. According to the Sanders County Sheriff’s log, Life Flight arrived around 10:30 but was unable to help.

“The extraction of the injured man was too dangerous for the Life Flight helicopter,” said Sanders County Sheriff’s Deputy Martin Spring, “but Two Bear Air, who has helped our area out with some very tough situations, was able to arrive in short time and perform the complicated 700-foot extraction of the injured.”

The injured man was moved from the Two Bear Air rescue helicopter and placed in the Life Flight helicopter for transfer to medical care. Spring reported that the man suffered a broken femur.