By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Pacific County Sheriff’s Office reported today that a 50-year-old man from Centralia was killed in an accident at a logging site yesterday.
William J. Leonard was deceased at the scene, inside the cab of a piece of heavy equipment that tumbled several hundred yards down a steep embankment of the Fossil Creek area of Pacific County, according to the sheriff’s office.
Chief Deputy Pat Matlock wrote in a news release this afternoon that they were called about the incident about 12:25 p.m. yesterday.
It happened about 16 miles from the paved roadway, on Rayonier Forestry land, according to Matlock.
“Witness statements and evidence observed at the scene indicate that the victim was ‘shovel logging’ a steep side hill,” Matlock wrote. “It appeared that the shovel had been moving decks of trees up the hill when it tipped over and rolled to the bottom.”
Leonard was working for EDB Logging, according to sheriff’s office.