Tree removal dilemma?

Mark, I'm glad you got the shot of the rope tied together. For those that are interested, it was tied with a granny knot, then each tail took one half hitch around the standing part of the line. Scary.

Mark, do you have the shot of them cutting through the trunk with the stick saw? I thought that was classic!

I will give them credit and say that they were pretty quick at cutting/tossing stuff...or maybe it just seemed that way because they had two buckets on one tree.

Note: When tying a timber hitch, do not go THROUGH the eye splice. They almost ruined a nice Endura-Braid sling I JUST made.

So Mark, are they finishing the first tree or is Aspen?

love
nick
 
Mark

I have a good friend in the Line clearance Biz. He had to let go (to put it nicely) one of his formen because he dropped a 50ft Ponderosa Pine on some primarys. The guy cut through his face cut after he realized that the man on the tag line (standing in a field of snow) could not pull the tree over. Anyway not dwelling on the stupidity part, The tree fell on the lines, bending the poles and then bounced back the other way. Luckly no one was hurt but It is amazing how much weight those lines can carry.
 
Agreed! I witnessed how tough the transmission lines are years ago, but today I learned about the "toughness" of ,the previously thought as frail, primary lines!

Here Nick...(attachment)
 

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I can't really convey to you how frightened I was at one point today. I watched a large (12' x 14") get tipped tied, cut free and shock load this (not so taught)make-shift lowering line (two three-strand climbing lines)and bounce back up, helicopter almost into the worker, get lowered onto the primary and let down about three feet before falling off of the line, then get lowered onto the service drop and nearly ripping it off of the house, and finally swing into the fence twice (almost knocking off the pickets) before it was grabbed by the ground crew. Wow!

I was so nervous that I grabbed the twp. coordinator by the arm and pulled him out from under the wires a ploe-length away. I don't need this.
 
Cool thread and pics. I'm glad I have the chance to see it. I think the power co. did the right thing by by assigning the task to their crews. The rigging may leave nothing to be desired, but so far, every1 is home and safe. Thanks for sharing the job here.

Joe
 
It is fun to be able to share all of the aspects. I just wish that I could've taken these trees down already. I don't look forward to going back tomoorow.

By the way, I am line clearance approved and have done years of line clearance work. We just don't have the contract this year in this area. Not sure if I pointed that out?

I too am glad when everyone gets to go home each day.
 
We have contractors working on our lines as well.
A couple of weeks ago they were raising the strand and cable as per my request with overhead power on cross arms.
One guy working the boom and another watching everything but the job at hand and they raised it up between and two feet above the primary power at mid span without even knowing it.
As they were driving down the road with the boom extended out the back they ripped the bucket off on one of their other trucks.
The bean counters love them because they work for less money than qualified linemen.
 
It saddens me that Joe's perspective seems to be the most prevalent amongst the people in charge of hiring tree services for public projects. For all the certifications, licenses and permits required for treework (NJ has some of the strictest laws in the country), it amazes me that incompetent workers are the ones who have to to the most complex jobs while better qualified arborists are paid to stand by and watch. Neat pictures, but they only reinforce the public's image of what is wrong with our industry. And we wonder why our insurance rates are so dam high.

Seems like being a good arborist isn't enough. We can have all the climbing and pruning abilities in the world, but we have to sit by and let some pencil-pusher dictate what we can and cannot do. And as long as 'everybody goes home without injury', then everything is fine.

Well, they all made it home today. Better lucky than good.
 
We as a company have a 10' rule for primaries. When we have removals with in that 10' we call the line clearance contractor. They come out, we need a clean up crew there to chip. It quickly becomes painfull to whatch as the job takes three times as long to do because the crew does not have the equipment or the training to effectivly do the work. In the end we make zero dollars. Frustrating.
 
Still, a good policy Todd.

Here's some shots from day 2. This is a shot of their second cut. I like how the ground guy is able to help by pulling the primary out of the way. Oh, and yeah they did send two crews again.
 

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Like Joe mentioned, the job was finished, no one was hurt and we did not sustain a financial blow. So, I guess it was the right call. It was scary though. Thanks for all of the ideas about options to look for. I will no doubt draw from them in the future.
 
The utilities industry is HUGE in respect to private tree ownership. It is the electric utility industries right and responsibility to keep the public safe from their utilities. I have heard of private contractors getting killed by electricity because they didn't handle the situation appropriatly. It was beat in my head to stay away from all energized conductors from the time I started in this business. I am constantly made aware of the location of all wires on any property before I do any work. It is easy to forget where wires are located as the work in any given tree progresses. When 1 forgets where they are located for 1 instant, trouble is likely to follow.

The people who are trained to do line clearance work are accustomed to working around power lines every day. Whether their rigging styles are stone age compared to what others know is moot. They are accustomed to working around utility wires and the hazards associated with line clearance. That part of the industry is best able to handle their situations. I'm not one of those people who work around power lines every day.

If some1 besides the actual utility contractors is more capable of handling the situation, too bad. Those lines belong to the utilities and the utilities are to take care of their situations.

Tod: your comment reflects what I have been taught.

Mark: you are a utilities contractor who is more capable of handling the situation than the utility crew which did the work. IMO, you have set an example that needs to continue to be followed by others in the private sector.

BTW, youuuu diddddn't get to do the remooooovallllls.
BAHAHAHAHAHA! :)

Joe

Since it takes so long for me to write a relevant post, I bump heads with the quicker guys.
 
Those pics. probably don't tell even 1/4 the mayhem that went on there. Like Rocky said about NJ laws and guidelines, it baffles the mind how a skilled crew can bang it out and a mutant crew is called in. It's total crap. You kind of feel sorry for those mutants being put in situations like that all the time by their employers. Too bad you can't make a "safety video" or "widows video" and show it to whatever safety board to see what they think of the Co. and their practices. A good arborist might get flak for not wearing chaps on a 90 deg. day, but mutants like that crew are awarded for a job well done because they came home alive. Also probably got credit for only breaking a couple of things. Though there's not much to do about it on my end, a video shown to a couple of right people might at least make them think. Just to get them to think might be an accomplishment.
The landing pad for that chunk of wood is great! Are the cones for the same retard crew so they don't trip over that big hunk of wood protruding out of the road.
Too funny Mark. I almost wanted something to happen bad so someone took another look at what they were doing.
If you can't make money having your clean-up crews there, then make money selling the video?!?!?!?
Sorry for the rant. It's just amazing the lack of simple common sense.
Later
 
There are a few guys working for us and myself that are line clearance certified. Although we do not work around them very often maybe 15 or 20 times a year, and usually its crane work and a few manual removals. The company also has a represenative for the power company come to our office for some additional training to disscus THIER wires. We are always told if the wire is within 10' of the tree contact us and WE will get 10' of clearance for you. This is when I get annoyed. They will come out usually about an hour late ( keep in mind a clean up crew is there) take all day to do 2 or 3 hours of work. I get there the next day to finish the removal to find over hang over the wire is gone but the trunk is within about 4' or 5' of a primary. The crew says yeah thats about 10'. This happens constantly. I f the removal is very low tech they ofen do extra. If it is at all challenging they often do not give me mt 10'.
 
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