CHERRYFIELD - A bizarre accident claimed the life of a Steuben man as he was delivering a load of firewood.

Forest Dale Sr., 46, was delivering a load of firewood to a home in Cherryfield, according to Washington County Sheriff's deputies, and was trying to raise the dump body on his one-ton flatbed. Dale had climbed under his truck to release a piston to dump the load, and at that point the truck broke through an abandoned underground tank. Deputies say the truck fell through all the way to its frame, and Dale was crushed. Investigators say the tank was behind the home, and was likely an abandoned septic tank.