Bowman Lake Fire Hit by Tree Fatality 1924

Michael D. Cogley was killed instantly when the tree he and fellow firefighters were falling struck him. Cogley, along with two other Tahoe National Forest firefighters, was cutting down a burning lightning-struck tree near the dam at Bowman Lake in the Northern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. As Cogley handed off the ax to a fellow faller, the tree began to fall. The three men ran from the falling tree, but Cogley was hit by the tree in his attempt to escape. His instantaneous death was confirmed by a doctor who was in the area. The jury of the Nevada County coroner's court returned the verdict, "The cause of death was being accidentally struck by a falling tree while employed by the U. S. Forest Service as a fire fighter."

Hit by Tree, Fatality, Initial Attack, Falling Operation