Salvage worker hurt after fall at mill

A worker with a Lewiston salvage company is in serious condition at Deaconess Medical Center after he fell and hit his head Tuesday morning while dismantling equipment at a former mill site in Priest River. Bob Finnell, an employee of J and B Salvage of Lewiston, fell Tuesday around 8 a.m. while taking apart a kiln used to dry lumber, said Bruce Brewer, a business analyst with Idaho Forest Group, the property owner. Idaho Forest purchased the property from J.D. Lumber in October and auctioned off the equipment, Brewer said. The companies that bought it, including the Lewiston salvage firm, were responsible for dismantling and removing what they purchased, Brewer said. No one was around when Finnell fell, Brewer said, but the supervisor of his crew “heard a thump” and went to investigate. An ambulance arrived within 15 minutes from Newport, he said.