Accident Takes Life of Longtime BLM Employee
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Coos Bay District is deeply saddened at the passing of Estella Morgan. Estella died in a workplace accident around 11:00 a.m. on November 4, 2014. She was monitoring a timber sale on Blue Ridge, 11 miles east of Coos Bay, when a tree fell onto a vehicle she was driving. “Estella was an exceptional woman who represented herself, her family, and the BLM community in a way that made us all proud and we will miss her immensely,” said Patty Burke, Coos Bay District Manager. Estella started work on the Coos Bay District in June 1984 as a student intern. During her 30-year career, she helped train a generation of BLM foresters and timber appraisers. “Estella carried herself with a quiet confidence and an overwhelming competence that inspired others to be their best,” said Umpqua Field Office Manager Todd Buchholz. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.
Blue Ridge Industrial Accident
News release from the Coos Co. Sheriff’s Office. On 11/04/2014 at about 12 noon, Coos County 911 received a call of a tree that had fallen on a vehicle, with a person inside, in the Blue Ridge area east of Coos Bay, OR. Coos County Sheriff’s Deputies, First Responders from Sumner Fire and Bay Cities Ambulance responded to the scene on a BLM road, off Blue Ridge Road, east of Coos Bay. It was reported that a female had been in the vehicle when it was struck by a tree. The female was unresponsive but breathing. By the time medical service personnel arrived at the scene the female had passed away. An investigation being conducted by the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, OSHA, and BLM revealed that the victim, 55 year old Estella Morgan, employed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Office in North Bend and whose husband is the County Forester for Coos County, Lance Morgan, was conducting field work and was out in the field in the Blue Ridge area. Ms. Morgan had come upon an active logging operation in the area, when a tree that had just been cut fell down upon the vehicle she was operating, a Ford Explorer, crushing the driver’s area of the vehicle, causing her fatal injuries. The investigation is still continuing.