Granby – A 32-year-old Granby man was killed Thursday when he fell into an old-fashioned sawmill, Grand County authorities said.
John Tuttle, an employee of Grand Lake Log Homes, was making adjustments to the 50-inch circular saw just before 10 a.m. when the accident occurred.
“Basically, they were fine-tuning a sawmill that they had moved to this location. … The carriage kind of caught his leg and caused him to get pushed into the actual saw blade,” said Grand County coroner Dave Schoenfeld.
Two other employees were at the new facility near the Granby airport, but neither saw what happened.
Tuttle, who had worked for the company for three years, died instantly, Schoenfeld said.
He leaves behind his wife, Stephanie, and three young children.
Stephanie Tuttle said she and her husband just celebrated their seventh anniversary and he was amazingly kind and caring.
“We are working with Grand Lake Log Homes,” Stephanie Tuttle said Thursday night. “We love them, and John loved them, too.”
Company officials were not available for comment.
Investigators from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were on the scene Thursday afternoon, Schoenfeld said.
The gruesome death comes about two weeks after a teen in the same mountain community was electrocuted while saving his dog from a live wire strung through a golf- course pond and two other people were killed in a house fire.
Authorities still are investigating the June 20 death of Ian Raftshol, 16, and trying to determine why the wire was there, said Undersheriff Walt Eldridge.
Staff writer Brandon Lowrey contributed to this report.
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
