Tornado tree work in Maryland, News video.

theXman

theXman

Branched out member
Location
MD, USA
Hey buzz people,

A very small area in my county got hit with a tornado.

Anyway, the morning after, it was a freak show circus, self proclaimed tree guys rushed to the site, going door to door. It was a cool morning and breezy, but quite a few of the "tree guys" were running around with no shirts on and of course no hardhats, chaps or any PPE. Guys that are dying for work; and that tells you something right there....

I had one call from the small area at first. I didn't care if I didn't get any, because we are so busy and I really wanted to go out of town that day for an alumni forestry picnic that I've had to keep canceling for years now; from stuff like this that comes up.

Anyway, we are working on a property with tons of damage today, some on the house, some on shed, lots of smashed fence.

A news crew showed up, threw down a tripod and huge camera and started filming.

Then interviewed me a bit. I was out of breath a little from chipping fast, but was able to think and turned it into a public service message. Quickly explaining the law in Maryland and to look for a MD licensed tree expert company (checking DNR website) and make sure they are insured by actually calling their insurance company if you do not know anything about them. I explained that if a person does not have workmans comp insurance, if he hurts himself on your property, he could sue your homeowners insurance for damaging themselves.

I also mentioned that our climbers are all ISA Certified Arborists.

I also mentioned it looked like a circus the morning after with guys going door to door getting work, working with no PPE and even many with no shirts on.

So..... What did the news show? A little bit of us chipping, then some landscaper turned tree service overnight, sawing with a new 201t and new Walmart boots with no PPE. They mix in idiots with us and makes it look like we are all together the first time you watch it.

The actual 6:00 news did show me say, "it was like a circus the morning after, guys with no hardhats, no Personal protective equipment like chainsaw chaps and many with no shirts even". Then the news guy says "the tree serive people said check to make sure the person is licensed by checking with DNR and the BBB". Which was fine.

It also showed us on a roof briefly starting to pick up a limb with the crane.

Why do they show idiots? Do idiots sell?

I found a video of it online, it is an even more condensed version and doesn't show me talking at all, but they sure left in the other junk.

We have the green shirts by the way with the X's on them, with the hardhats, eye protection, chaps, chipper, ect...

Comments can be made under the video.

I'd love for some of you get on there and ream them out for not showing the professional talk.

Say something like, "what about those guys with the X's on their back, they looked like someone professional to talk to, why not interview them?"

Or whatever comes to mind.

Why am I saying this?

We do not need advertising or new customers, so I'm not mad about missing free advertising.

Yes, I do have a bit of a public spotlight problem, I do like getting recognized.

But, honestly, the main reason is because I always get pissed at what i see on the news. When I see tree work on the news from storms and such, I always see such idiots with no PPE and low IQ's. I always think, isn't there ever any professional out there that they can interview and help our image?

Now, having given a decent interview with them and know that I spoke quite well and gave lots of good information to the public that they could use and then now witness what they pick to put on the news, THIS is unbelievable.

Anyway, I better go, I have a lot more to organize tonight for tomorrow.

Here is the stupid link for the extra condensed, more stupid version:

http://www.wbaltv.com/TORNADO-AFTERMATH/-/9380084/14510126/-/6ba60cz/-/index.html#comments

web page
 
Sorry for the people in that town, however I am sure that after every disaster folks are just glad to get some help cleaning up the debris. It's then you will find anyone who owns a chainsaw offering their services. People will no longer be checking credentials and checking PPE etc, all they want is a good price and the debris gone. We faced that here 2 years ago, it took 3 months to clear all the debris after a small category one hurricane, would hate to see first hand what a worse one could do. Sorry that the news team didn't differentiate between the pro and the fly by night, but who can trust the news these days, reporters can be quite fickle in their telling of a story. I guess they were reporting on the damage as a whole not specifically about the tree damage and it debris removal.
 
People love to watch idiots, that's the problem. They also like to hire them. It's just a vicious cycle. Like swing said, they want it gone, now, cheap. Unfortunately it's hard to educate the public when public information is so dumbed down.
 
X,

If you want to go to the source...get hold of the newscast producer. Sharing the concerns about what sort of public service, dis-service really, that they aired might get some mileage.`
 
It wasn't terrible, but I thought I had some good information I said that could help a lot of homeowners.

I understand about people just wanting stuff gone quickly, but I bet if they witnessed a person bleed to death or have their head split open while working on their property, they would regret it. Especially if the person files a law suit against them later.
 
Nevermind trying to talk it through with the news anchors - they can't help you, even if they wanted to. People are cheap and dumb and heavily insured; and the shirtless yokels and country rubes will bleed their own blood . . . which will bring in the Zombies.

And that is the real problem. The smell of brains and splattered heads will be strong, and many faces will need to be eaten. Every Zombie movie is based on real life, to one degree or another, and watching humans feed is the inspiration for it all.

That's what you're seeing now; a frenzy. You might not have the stomach for it, which is fine. They're going to eat anyway. I never make much on these things myself, I get meat sick watching the door-knockers gorge.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Nevermind trying to talk it through with the news anchors - they can't help you, even if they wanted to. People are cheap and dumb and heavily insured; and the shirtless yokels and country rubes will bleed their own blood . . . which will bring in the Zombies.

And that is the real problem. The smell of brains and splattered heads will be strong, and many faces will need to be eaten. Every Zombie movie is based on real life, to one degree or another, and watching humans feed is the inspiration for it all.

That's what you're seeing now; a frenzy. You might not have the stomach for it, which is fine. They're going to eat anyway. I never make much on these things myself, I get meat sick watching the door-knockers gorge.

[/ QUOTE ]
Ha ha, I like it!
Speaking of zombies, we had one of those freaks here. Killed a person, ate his heart and part of his brain.
 
Maybe it's the weird charge and surge of a storm that brings them out . . .

We had a bad winter storm several months ago, and all the homeowners went berserk and became their own tree companies. The Stihl dealership looked like a scene from 28 Days Later. We almost had to carry weapons to get through the place. Total horrorshow.
 
During that storm 2 years ago, the stihl dealer here which happens to be the only distributor of saws sold out instantly and not only that but he flew in major saws within 3 days and they too sold out. Nothing like working in a yard and seeing a yahoo up a fallen tree that's dodgy at best, just waiting to spin at the cutting of a wrong branch or worse yet actually stand back up causing a catapult action. There is this prime novice yielding a 460 with 28" bar and yelling watch out. Insane shite. There were a few accidents I heard of but not many which surprised me.
 
We need to figure a way out to make the good message more dramatic! Same thing happened to me last year. You interview, say how important insurance,license, etc. is and the footage never sees the light of day.

People like dumb tv and anyone interviewed is at the editor's discretion.
 
Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. TV crew showed up at our job site after a big storm. Filmed us quite a bit and talked to one of our guys on the ground, who is also a certified arborist. I was in the bucket the whole time. When the news showed it they showed me making a cut from the bucket for about 2 seconds and then just lumped us in with footage of the no shirt no ppe guys.
 
Hey X:
I had a similar thing happen last Sept near my home. A Eucalyptus came over a killed a young lady in her car. I stopped by the scene after work and got interviewed. I talked to this lady about 20 minutes explaining the difficulties that City Arborists have with evaluating all the trees in a large municipality, and a bunch of other stuff about evaluating trees. I didn't know at the time the complete history of that island median, but I did know it had been narrowed. The roots must have been cut and so there was a good chance of root decay, especially with that species. Only tests would show for sure.

Out of the whole 20 minutes they chose the biggest "Duh!" statement I made.

Here's the clip:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=8356082

I later talked to the City Arb who said that he had been trying to get that row of Eucs removed for years. The community pressured the city council (it officially belongs to Newprt Beach) to keep them. At least his tail is covered with all the reports he filed.

Also, I know the FD Captain who was on scene. He said the trunk was stablized when they attempted to lift it. It moved to the side, not down at all. The young lady interviewed was entirely mistaken.
 
X you mentioned...
"So..... What did the news show? A little bit of us chipping, then some landscaper turned tree service overnight, sawing with a new 201t and new Walmart boots with no PPE. They mix in idiots with us and makes it look like we are all together the first time you watch it."

I watched the video, you guys looked pretty bad a$$. I mean, top of the line hardhats, huge chipper, chaps, and even ISA certified arbos chipping brush! AS PROFESSIONAL AS YOU CAN GET.

Yes, I understand you could be a little agitated why you didn't get a bit more face time, sharing all the helpful tips for homeowners. Obviously it wasn't interesting, and the producers felt that those "idiots" would be more entertaining than your spiel i guess?

Did that "idiot" just run over to that log and rip into it with his new saw for T.V. or was he working?

You know those guys must have been glancing over at you, thinking, 'damn I wish I was working for Arbor X, OMG is that David Driver?'
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'God they are bad a$$.'

ya also mentioned...
"But, honestly, the main reason is because I always get pissed at what i see on the news. When I see tree work on the news from storms and such, I always see such idiots with no PPE and low IQ's. I always think, isn't there ever any professional out there that they can interview and help our image?"

no PPE and low IQ's huh? I often see City workers, government paid workers with cush jobs, plenty PPE and still low IQ's (all over the news) but they make more $ and work less huh? Funny world we live in, but either way YOU can't and won't change it. You are so small and insignificant to the world, you don't even matter... I've always loved to say, "nothing is that important, but everything matters"

The general public doesn't care about tree guys or arborist, let alone care if they wear glasses while they cut wood, or blabber about how bad a storm is. people watching the news care about their favorite hottie newscaster, and people killing people, stuff like that. So don't get so goddamnn upset at yourself or try and change "our image" because you can't, and again, you are nothing, a tiny little speck that chips brush and K-booms wood, rigs out lumber over homes and does it with style and safely! But either way I'm not gonna hold you back from showing up those "idiots". Or blasting them on a forum and pulling back the curtain. Who am I to judge right?

One last thing just to get my own little plug in your space. I know how those gaddamn news people work, they came to my house and filmed me chipping brush. I was on the 10 o'clock news, I said plenty of great things, ended up encouraging a positive image of "our industry" without even trying. But what did they air??? Me slurring my words and talking about large crotches. Bastards. Oh, you can see that vid (Awakenings thread) as well but it's sort of morbid, has to do with death and chippers - things of that nature. I know it doesn't matter, but I think you mean well man your so much better than those "idiots" with no protection.

Thanks for sharing X
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re those eucs, they were overmulched--butts rotted by landscapers--and the annual inspections by outside arbs just totally missed that. Find the flare, if you dare to care!
If the city arb thinks his butt is covered just by recommending removal, he is in a fool's paradise.

Stations may like--and sometimes may have--to put on PSA's. Maybe that is your opportunity to tell the rest of the story.

I've never understood what the size of machines and type of clothing have to do with professionalism, but that's just me I guess.

"We need to figure a way out to make the good message more dramatic!" That is the challenge.
 
"I've never understood what the size of machines and type of clothing have to do with professionalism, but that's just me I guess." ( quote from Guy Mayor ).

I agree with this statement 100%.
 
yup, same here. you could be a professional, expert, whatever, with just evaluation or advice. Or perform professional work with just a handsaw and hand pruners.
 
Very true X, in many service industries there is a great misconception ( by the layperson or general public ) that large companies provide " professional work " based on the number of workers they employ and the equipment the retain. They correlate BIG = Professional which is a MYTH. Not trying to knock large companies of which there are many good ones around worldwide. It's just the public's general misconception that I am concerned about.
 
I watched the video and your crew looked great and not to be concidered anything but professional. Get your point though, loud and clear.
Storm work should be called whore work for the wanna be professional.
 
The sad ugly truth about our industry and the media.
It is what it is.

New mantra "Work for people who care and care for people you work for"
Media doesn't deserve your time and thoughts, especially if they are not willing to pay/respect it.

bettr luck next time Xman.
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