Abstract: Employee #1, a timber cutter, and two coworkers--a topper and a groundsman--were felling two large trees in a wooded floodplain. The coworkers watched from a distance as Employee #1 cut an 85 ft tall sycamore tree with an approximately 60 ft diameter canopy. As he completed the cut, he backed up several feet to watch the tree fall. A lower limb on the sycamore caught the top of a dead, 35 ft tall, 12 in. dbh (diameter at breast height) ash tree, snapping the bole in three places. The main portion of the ash trunk fell sideways from the direction of the sycamore, and struck Employee #1 in the back of the head. He was killed. Employee #1 initiated cutting the sycamore without topping it and without clearing the dead and damaged trees from the area.