Rescuers heft half-tonne slab of wood

The injured 80-year-old man is loaded into the Westpac rescue helicopter after the milling accident. Photo / supplied

Emergency services in Northland are astonished that two men were able to lift a half-tonne slab of wood off an 80-year-old man who was trapped under it for 24 hours.

Dargaville deputy chief fire officer Michael Ross was among firefighters dispatched to a rural Katui property on Saturday.

Mr Ross said the 80-year-old man had spent a tough night outdoors after the timber-milling accident in which he was trapped by a large slab of wood.

The next morning, his grandson and a friend found him under the wood and went into action.

"They just lifted it off. Obviously there was a fair bit of adrenalin going because we couldn't lift it afterwards," Mr Ross said.

"They'd just gotten him out and had taken him onto his bed inside the house."

He estimated the piece of wood weighed probably 400-500kg.

He said the grandson wasn't a big guy, "just your regular average Joe".

Mr Ross said it was fortunate the grandson and his friend arrived at the property when they did. "He probably wouldn't have survived another night out there."

Mr Ross said emergency service workers did occasionally witness or hear about superhuman feats of strength, for which adrenalin was normally credited.

The elderly man was was seriously injured but was now in a stable condition.

"He couldn't speak that well. He was certainly in a precarious place for quite some time," Mr Ross said.