North Idaho Logger Killed By Falling Tree Partner Escapes Injury When Tree Falls Wrong Way

A 35-year-old Cataldo man died Wednesday morning near Mullan, Idaho, when he was hit by a tree cut down by his partner.

Shoshone County sheriff’s deputies said the tree struck Dennis G. Donnenwirth Jr. on the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Donnenwirth was logging on private property with a partner about two miles east of Mullan when the accident occurred about 7 a.m., Cpl. Mitch Alexander said.

Donnenwirth’s partner, whose name was not released, was not injured.

Thick brush around the trees Donnenwirth and his partner were cutting probably shielded the two men from each other, Alexander said.

They had been working as a team to cut down the same tree and intended for it to fall to the east, Alexander said. Instead, it fell to the south.

“He thought his partner was down farther and to the side of him,” Alexander said.

The death is the second North Idaho logging fatality this year.

Lloyd D. French, a 52-year-old Princeton man, was killed on his O’Reilly Road farm by a falling tree in January. A large Douglas fir French had cut struck another tree as it fell and shattered.

A piece of the tree knocked French’s hard hat and face shield off. He stumbled backward, fell and was hit by the rest of the tree.

Logging claims an average of four lives a year. Last year, eight people were killed in North Idaho woods or lumber mill accidents. , DataTimes