A Belle man was injured in a logging accident Monday morning after a tree fell on him.

John Green was cutting down trees with a friend on a property located on Route D in Osage County near Cooper Hill when a felled tree crushed him.

According to the Bland Fire Protection District Chief Mark Davis, Green is a fire department member along with the friend who was logging with him.

“He didn’t have his cell phone on him,” Davis said.

Green’s friend, whose name has not been released, contacted emergency services around 9:14 a.m. via service radio pinged their location as the address was unknown.

Belle Volunteer Fire Chief Dwight Frances was one of the first emergency services personnel to arrive on the scene. Green’s friend had already moved him from beneath the tree.

He was flown from the scene to the University of Missouri Health Care in Columbia and went into surgery for spinal injuries around 12:30 p.m. Monday.

“He did make it out of surgery around 6:30,” Davis said. “They was going to have to wait to see if his spinal injury would heal by itself.”

Doctors estimated they would know more about the severity of the injury in the next 48 hours if there is any paralysis.

“They said they put (him) back together as well as they could,” Davis said.

The Bland Fire Protection District volunteers are in the pre-planning stages of organizing a benefit for the Green family.

“We should be getting something together shortly,” Davis said. “It will be announced on the Bland Fire Protection District’s Facebook page.”

Green serves on both the Bland and Belle fire departments as a volunteer.

“He has been on Belle longer than Bland,” Davis said. “He was just put back on here.”

Green moved out of the area and recently returned for work.

“It’s a tragic accident that happens,” Davis said about the accident. “It’s a dangerous occupation, cutting down trees. It’s a guessing game sometimes.”