Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa today

Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

I agree with you, BB, that the tree can't be judged by it's stump. But I, like sinko, cringe at the knowledge that there are other "arborists" out there saying that the tree is "too old" to be standing next to a house. Rubbish!

"Ageing(sic) and sick" is what I saw in one article on this unfortunate event, and I agree, can't tell if it's sick from this picture, but a windshield inventory of this tree:

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcsi....9&MaxW=1000

would have only made THIS arborist want an aerial inspection. If only to climb this beauty!

Sometimes karma's a b****!
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

This is a sad situation. It happened in my home town. The verdict is not out as of yet as to who was the responsible party for the accident. There is no such thing as an unavoidable accident. Somebody forgot or ignored the basics when working with trees and cranes. To bad for the owner of the company he is a friend of mine and we all hate to see unfortunate things happen to good friends. The crane service has been around for years and usually does good work.
Regarding the home owner , sometimes you get what you pay for! Its to bad that all that is to come of this is the rebuilding of the house. Little lesson learned most likely.
Maybe the crane company and the tree service should invest in the video that Mark Chisholm put together with the New Jersey Chapter of the ISA?
I've been their and not done that. Came close but luckily the crane operator was able to drop the load fast enough to not tip the crane over. Came close but didn't split the house in two. My last crane job where I was in the tree.
Many things can be learned from this so keep posted for more details as they are discovered. Right now no one is talking about it and I mean no one! A lot of spectulation but few concrete details.
The one lesson learned that I can say at this point is absolutely nothing should ever be in the house when working with an overhead crane. NOTHING not even the dog. Maybe a fish bowl..Yes its a tragedy and yes stranger things have happened but this is one of those things that should never have happened. Don't let it happen to you...
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

This picture tells a lot of the story, one more section to spit out, working roughly a 100' radius judging from the boom, BIG piece laying next to the boom, and what looks like a jib still on the boom?

Sad state of events.

There is also a pool in the backyard, maybe HO wanted more sun and less leaves in their pool?!


009616.jpg
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

sobering words Sohner!! And I agree!! THis is just an awful situation,no matter whos shoes you try to put yourself in. homeowner,tree co owner,crane operator.i feel really bad for all of them!!
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

wow! that pick looks HUGE!

maybe it did weigh too much then.

maybe they underestimated it, maybe the climber called it 8000lbs and the crane put about 8000lb pressure on it and it weighed 12,000lbs.

i think i remember the story saying the peice just broke loose all of a sudden. so maybe it's own weight which was not supported by the crane caused it to crack off much sooner then the climber anticipated. maybe if he had more time, he would have added more tension to the pick as he neared the end of the cut.

maybe... maybe... maybe...

nice picture BB.
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

oh, and i wonder if the neighbors concrete driveway cracked from the crane in that picture that is assisting in the recovery.
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

[ QUOTE ]
There is also a pool in the backyard, maybe HO wanted more sun and less leaves in their pool?!


[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't rule that out. H.O.'s remove trees for some of the lamest reasons. I bet the over hang had the neighbor worried. Since the H.O. of the Oak only lived there for 3 months, they weren't attached to the tree much. I wonder if the neighbor voiced some worry about the tree and suggested aid in the cost of removing?
thinking.gif
(Pure speculation from many instances in this manner described above).

Some thing I find ironic around my area: Some people are removing trees to get sunlight for their veggie garden (to be sustainable of course).

My all time favorite tree removal excuse is for the new photovoltaics going on the roof.
bangtard.gif
(Again, to be sustainable).
smirk.gif
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

Doesn't look that big to me, XMan...it's only about 15 feet long, but with a complex shape, butt cut of it at most 28". My guess was 6000-8000 lb.. Could have even been less. But why was that jib on needlessly, and why only one counterweight, when the rest were sitting on the flatbed?
Surely, the climber cut it wrong. It needed to be gingerly picked up to vertical and toward the crane, while being cut from the back, leaving a slab to splinter, or a face cut.

BB, the radius may not be 100', but it's surely at least 85, and prolly more. The crane's rating would be close to 50 tons, sans most of the counterweights, with jib on, and at that radius, the chart would be pretty low....
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

http://www.maximcrane.com/loadcharts/4%20%20%20All%20Terrain%20Cranes/Grove/GMK-5175_175T.pdf

Look on page 10, this seems like the closest chart to tell us the story of what he was capable of. WITH NO JIB, 4 sections out, 13K in counterweight he was only good for 6200lbs. There is no chart for that small of counterweight, and jib.

That piece most likely weighed more than he hoped, and deflected away from him.
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

think defib, tip was prob out farther then the tree weight swings X2 X3 and off she goes to the backyard to see what the log looks like.
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

Copy and pasted from another crane website.............






A crane sliced through a house in Santa Rosa, California on Monday afternoon while attempting to remove the trunk of an oak tree from the rear of the house.

The crane, a five axle Grove GMK 5175 All Terrain, is owned by Petaluma, California based Reliable Crane & Rigging and was working with most of its boom plus swingaway extension. It does not appear to have been working with the maximum counterweight configuration available on this model?

009613.jpg

The upturned crane

The crane was attached to the tree which was then cut free and proved to be heavier than anticipated. Fortunately no one was injured in the incident and plans were made to
The company, sent in an investigation team along with a Cal-OSHA investigator.

009616.jpg

The recovery begins




Comment

Trees are notoriously challenging and are one of the few lifts that catch out even experienced operators. The problem is that the balance and the weight is something of an unknown until it is too late. There have been a large number of incidents this year where trees have got the better of the cranes that were attempting to remove them.

One solution to send in a crane grossly over sized for the job poses its own problems in getting to the job, not to mention the cost. In this case it looks like the crane, which was perfectly and professionally set up, may have benefited from some additional counterweight. Hindsight is a great thing!
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

If he didn't have the right counterweight and the jib erected he was not "perfectly and professionally set up".

Jibs shouldn't really be used for treework like they said treework is one of the most difficult things a crane operator can do and jibs can't stand the side loading involved in treework. That wasn't the case here, but he should have been on the mainboom working at that radius. Jibs are for height not radius.
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

I was just wondering the same thing, lets hope the HO is friendly with the neighbors. From a carpenter (ex) point of view it looks like a pretty straightforward re do of the addition, good news for him I guess. Can anyone tell if the two asissting cranes are from the original crane outfit, or (godforbid) bitter rivals??!

[ QUOTE ]
oh, and i wonder if the neighbors concrete driveway cracked from the crane in that picture that is assisting in the recovery.

[/ QUOTE ]
 
Re: Nasty tip over splits house in Santa Rosa toda

Early on, some others said they though that looked like a 70 ton crane. Well, based on the post below yours, and your chart, it's a 175. Wow, didn't look that large.

You're prolly right about it being 100 feet away, or danged close.
 
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