Chadd Bryce Mitchell, BHS 1991

Chadd Bryce Mitchell, BHS 1991

Chadd Bryce Mitchell, 34, of Goldendale, died Aug. 25, 2007, in Wasco, Ore., from a tragic windmill collapse. He was born Nov. 16, 1972, in Glendale, Calif., to Jerry and Gail Wolfe Mitchell.Chadd grew up in Southern California, and has lived in Goldendale for the past 14 years.

He was a member of Ducks Unlimited and the local bow hunting club, he enjoyed golfing, 4-wheeling and camping.Chadd was currently running for Position 1 Hospital Commissioner in Goldendale.

Survivors include the love of his life, his wife, Tana, of Goldendale; father and step-mother, Jerry and Candie Mitchell, of Valencia, Calif.; mother, Gail Eikanas, of Yakima; daughters, Kayla Mitchell, age 15, of Gilbert, Ariz., and McKinley Mitchell, age 4, of Goldendale; brother, Bradd Mitchell, of Temecula, Calif.; two sisters, April Grant, of Ellensburg, and Jessica Frankovic, of Yakima; step-sister, Mona Mitchell, of Valencia, Calif.

Viewing will be held on Thursday, Aug. 30, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Columbia Hills Memorial Chapel.A Celebration of Life Service will be held Friday, Aug. 31, at 3 p.m. at the New Life Assembly of God Church, with Ken Akins officiating.A gathering of friends and family will be held at the Goldendale Grange immediately following the service.A private family burial will be held at the Mt. View Cemetery.

Authorities identify victim of wind turbine accident as 34-year-old Goldendale, Wash., man

Published: Monday, August 27, 2007
Noelle Crombie, The Oregonian

Sherman County authorities have identified the victim of Saturday's wind turbine accident as Chadd B. Mitchell, a 34-year-old Goldendale, Wash., man.

Sheriff Brad Lohrey said Mitchell worked for the turbine's German manufacturer, Siemens. Winds at the time of the accident were about 25 mph, Lohrey said.

Mitchell died when a wind turbine on the not-yet-opened Klondike III wind farm east of the town of Wasco snapped in half. A second worker, Bill Trossen, of Minnesota, was inside the 242-foot-tall shaft. He was taken to an area hospital and was later released. Trossen's age and hometown were not available Monday morning.

The turbine broke about 4 p.m. Saturday a little more than halfway up the nearly hollow tube that holds the blades, said Geremy Shull, a Sherman County sheriff's deputy. The men were maintenance technicians, he said.

It was the first death associated with a wind turbine collapse in Oregon. While fire, ice and storms can damage turbines, they rarely fall over.
Last year, a wind gust bent and twisted a similar tower at the Condon Wind Project, a joint venture in Gilliam County between SeaWest Windpower of San Diego and Bonneville Power Administration, in operation since 2002. No one was injured in that case.

Hundreds of the turbines are going up in wheat fields and other windy areas of Oregon and Washington. This year alone, Oregon developers are on track to more than double the wind power generated by turbines in the Columbia River Gorge. The construction boom is expected to continue through 2008 or longer if Congress extends a federal tax credit.

Siemens fined $10,500 for wind turbine tower collapse that killed worker
Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Shelby Wood, The Oregonian

The state has fined Siemens Power Generation $10,500 for safety violations related to the Aug. 25 collapse of a wind turbine tower in Sherman County that killed one worker and injured another.

The 6-month investigation by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division found that Siemens failed to properly instruct and supervise workers in the safe operation of tools and equipment. It also found that company procedures for working under potentially dangerous conditions fell short of OSHA regulations.

The investigation did not find any structural problems with the tower itself.
"The tragedy was the result of a system that allowed the operator to restart the turbine after service while the blades were locked in a hazardous position," said Michael Wood, OSHA administrator.

The event occurred at the Klondike III wind farm near Wasco where three workers were performing maintenance on one of the turbine towers. Turbine blades positioned flat to the wind were released before other measures were followed, creating an "overspeed" condition that caused one of the blades to strike the tower. The tower then buckled and collapsed.

Chadd Mitchell, who was working at the top of the tower, died in the collapse. William Trossen, who was on his way down a ladder inside the turbine, was injured. The third worker was outside the tower and was unharmed.

Oregon OSHA, a division of the Department of Consumer & Business Services, enforces the state's workplace safety and health rules.

Parents of technician killed in Sherman County wind-turbine collapse file suit
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Aimee Green, The Oregonian

The parents of a 34-year-old technician who died when the 230-foot wind-turbine tower he was in collapsed to the ground in a Sherman County wheat field is suing for $7 million. In their lawsuit, Gail Eikanas and Jerry Mitchell fault the Danish turbine maker Siemens Wind Power A/S, the Klondike Wind Farms III and owners PPM Energy, among others. Their son, Chadd Mitchell, died in August 2007. He was the father of two.

The suit was filed Thursday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. According to the suit, the wind turbine's rotor went into "overspeed," causing the structure to crash to the ground and crush Mitchell. In early 2008, the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division fined Siemens Power Generation $10,500 for safety violations, after a six-month investigation. The agency found that Siemens didn't properly train or supervise the employees on the job, and that

Mitchell and another worker had less than two months of experience and were working without a supervisor. Siemens disagreed with the findings of safety violations, and appealed the findings. It's not clear what the outcome of that appeal was.