DARLINGTON - A Shullsburg man died when he was pinned under his skid-steer loader in a rubbish fire late Wednesday, June 5.
Paul W. Cullen, 59, was pronounced dead at the scene by coroner Virginia Douglas, according to a news release from the Lafayette County Sheriff's Department.
The accident happened in the 29000 block of County XX in Belmont Township, on land Cullen recently purchased. Deputies and Platteville EMS personnel and firefighters responded to a 911 call there at 9:41 p.m.
Preliminary investigation indicates Cullen had dug a hole with the skid-steer loader and was burning rubbish in the hole when the machine went too far over the edge and began to slide into the fire, with Cullen still on it.
As he stepped out of the skid-steer loader, he got pinned under one of the wheels.
"The skid loader became fully engulfed and (Cullen) lost his life due to the fire," the news release said.
This is the second fatality in a month from a skid-steer loader accident in Lafayette County. An 8-year-old Blanchardville boy, Melvin A. Jerrett, Jr., was killed May 17 in an skid-steer loader accident on Yellowstone Church Road.
Paul W. Cullen, 59, was pronounced dead at the scene by coroner Virginia Douglas, according to a news release from the Lafayette County Sheriff's Department.
The accident happened in the 29000 block of County XX in Belmont Township, on land Cullen recently purchased. Deputies and Platteville EMS personnel and firefighters responded to a 911 call there at 9:41 p.m.
Preliminary investigation indicates Cullen had dug a hole with the skid-steer loader and was burning rubbish in the hole when the machine went too far over the edge and began to slide into the fire, with Cullen still on it.
As he stepped out of the skid-steer loader, he got pinned under one of the wheels.
"The skid loader became fully engulfed and (Cullen) lost his life due to the fire," the news release said.
This is the second fatality in a month from a skid-steer loader accident in Lafayette County. An 8-year-old Blanchardville boy, Melvin A. Jerrett, Jr., was killed May 17 in an skid-steer loader accident on Yellowstone Church Road.