A logging operation on River Road in Edgecomb was interrupted shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5 when a skidder caught fire.
Due to the 1974 John Deere skidder’s location in a wooded lot, the Edgecomb Fire Department requested mutual aid assistance from the Newcastle Fire Department.
Skidder owner Dan Orff was able to mostly extinguish the fire before firefighters arrived on scene. Orff said he was working in the yard when he saw smoke and flames coming from the vehicle.
Orff used two extinguishers to put out the flames and then dirt and mud once the belly pane was removed, he said. It was a matter of minutes before the fire was extinguished, he said.
Firefighters put out remaining hot spots and inspected the vehicle once on scene. According to Edgecomb Fire Department Lt. Steve Higgins, chaffed electrical wiring may have been the cause.
Robert N. Reed owns the property, which is approximately 40 acres and stretches from his home on Merry Island Road to the Schmid Preserve, Reed said. Reed hired Orff to log wood on the property. “It’s too bad,” Reed said. “He was doing a good job.”
When asked if the skidder was fixable, Orff said he believed so. “Everything is fixable,” Orff said.