Dead Elm Failure

When I take down dead trees , I always back up my lowering blocks , just in case . I place one on the trunk below a lead , and than feed it into my main lowering block . I do it just to avoid nightmares like this . Glad to hear you are allright . I love that line from homeowners " it's only been dead a year "
 
Did you use a re-direct?
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Were you rigging with a block or natural crotch?

And if not, do you think a re-direct (and or block) would have avoided the breakage?
 
I was using a block, and I do like using multiple blocks for several reasons. If I had used a second block in the system, presumably I would have placed it on the main stem. If the lead that failed, still failed with the second block in place the whole tree could have come crashing down with me in it. Obviously that would have sucked.

If I had to do this tree over I would have had the service lines dropped and just bombed it into the yard.

To rig it down, multiple blocks, very small pieces, and a LOT more money.
 
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If I had to do this tree over I would have had the service lines dropped and just bombed it into the yard.


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True! That has to be the best part of our jobs.
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KentuckySawyer, I am glad to hear everyone is ok. [ QUOTE ]
I was lowering the limb, I had two wraps on the port-a-wrap, but never felt any pressure.

[/ QUOTE ] Two wraps seems extreme for
the small dead pieces being removed. How much was it to repair the service line?

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Hi Jeremy. Thanks for the concern- the piece being lowered off was the largest up to that point (400lbs?). The idea was to have a controlled drop where the butt is allowed to contact the ground while the tip is held off the wires. The problem was that the rigging failed before the butt came off. That is, the rigging lead never experienced the full weight of the piece. In hindsight, I probably could have used 1.5 wraps, but I don't think it would have mattered.

Also in hindsight, we would have had the service wire dropped, and tagged every piece off. Even then, the tree was pretty dangerous.
 
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The idea was to have a controlled drop where the butt is allowed to contact the ground while the tip is held off the wires. The problem was that the rigging failed before the butt came off. That is, the rigging lead never experienced the full weight of the piece. In hindsight, I probably could have used 1.5 wraps, but I don't think it would have mattered.

[/ QUOTE ] I understand completely. How did you remove the already broken out limb from the neighbors? Are you still a 3-4 person crew?
 
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How did you remove the already broken out limb from the neighbors? Are you still a 3-4 person crew?

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After tagging the tops out, I installed a rigging cambium saver (made by Rich Hattier) around the stem, placed the lowering line through that, tied off to the broken out piece and came on down. Jeff (our groundguy) lowered the piece as I worked it from the ground. The great thing about that rigging cambium saver is that it can be remotely installed or removed.
 
Glad that no one got hurt. Do you think that it had been declining for the last 3 years and the last leaf finally fell of last year?
 
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