Redmond man killed in Ochoco NF log truck crash

A Redmond log truck driver was killed early Wednesday when his rig left a spur road and crashed into a ravine on the Ochoco National Forest east of Prineville, dumping its load of logs onto the truck, Crook County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies and Crook County Fire and Rescue medics were dispatched around 3:30 a.m. to a spur road off Northeast Duncan Creek Road, near the Ochoco Ranger Station, said Sgt. Dave Dethman.

Deputies arrived to find the log truck off the road in a small ravine, covered with logs, Dethman said.

An investigation determined Daniel Williams, 30, was driving east on the spur road when his truck encountered a dip in the road. After it went through the dip, the truck’s path was diverted to its left, where it went off the roadway and into the ravine, Dethman said.

The truck came to a stop, and the load of logs it was carrying moved forward, he explained.

A log loader was driven down from a nearby logging site, and several tons of logs were removed before Williams was found, with fatal injuries, Dethman said.

The sheriff’s office thanked Crook County Fire and Rescue and the logging company for their assistance in the recovery process.

A family friend described Williams as “a well-liked, hard-working man with a ready smile and quick wit.” She said he had a young daughter “who was the light of his life. She often rode with him in the truck on visits. He will be missed.”

Data from the 2012 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries shows logging is the nation’s most dangerous profession, with about 128 deaths per 100,000 workers.