Working hurricanes

[Mapleman]

Kate, Hugo, Bob, Andrew, Opal, Fran, Ivan...I've christened a few of my saws during a hurricane. It's not everyone's cup of tea, and definitely not what it once was (too many hacks, wannabes and rip-off cons), but working 'canes can still be the ultimate adrenaline rush. For me it's like being a fireman. I don't want to see people put in harm's way, but when the bell goes off, my adrenaline starts flowing. It's something I was trained to do and am good at.

Every job comes with its own unique and inherent difficulties where you have to evaluate the situation on site, often improvising. Multiple trees tangled together on a second-story, steep-pitched roof with no overhead tie-in. Gotta love it.

Having a crane is the way to go, but often they are contracted out by the time you hit town. So pulleys in nearby trees, bull lines, pulling with a 4 WD vehicle or Bobcat, and imagination have to suffice. And then there's the $$$.

Once a customer told me he thought i was making too much money on his job, even though his insurance was picking up the tab and I had covered his deductible. (It was a $9,000 three-day job which included a large willow oak on his roof leaning against a chimney, and I had to pay off the crane). I told him I was an artist, and just like Frank Sinatra when he sang in Vegas, I don't work by the hour. I also told him it's extremely dangerous hanging in the air with a running chain saw, and the working life span of climbers is similar to other athletic pursuits--there's only so many years we can work before the body gives out--and that if he wanted, the next time I would loan him my equipment and talk him through the job. He immediately broke out his check book...

 

[PurdueJoe]

Never been to a hurricane but I've been to a couple if ice storms. What are some of the similarities and differences when comparing the two? What I assume is heat is a biggie and instead of just tops and large branches broken such as in an ice storm you are dealing with large trees up rooted.

 

[Mapleman]

"There's bold tree men and there's old tree men, but there's no old, bold tree men."

Hey Purdue,

Obviously it depends on the size of the storm. For sheer destruction, Andrew is numero uno of anything I've ever seen. But it was a small storm--25 miles across maybe. Hugo was the mother of all storms that I've encountered. It's the one that will roll the eyes of tree men and send them falling backwards off their barstools. I worked it in Charlotte, 100 miles inland, and the city was whacked. It was a war zone for about three weeks--curfews, National Guard, brush piles on every street ten feet high, monster oaks uprooted crisscrossing roofs...

My first 'cane was Kate in Tallahassee in the mid 80s. Only had 85 mph when it hit, but Tallahassee did not have an aggressive pruning program in place, so the trees were thick with foliage. First job I went to was a four-foot oak crashed through a brick wall laying across a bed.

That would be a big difference between canes and ice storms: shade trees wouldn't have foliage so the damage would tend to be less severe then in a big blow (class 3 and above 'cane). The sheer extent of an ice storm might be greater though, but for destructive power--knocking over large trees--wind usually takes it over ice.

Personally, I'd rather work in south Florida in August than upstate NY in January. That might seem like a no brainer, but the heat and humidity down south in the summer can be a killer, literally. Generally, we'd start working no later than 7, take a 2 hour lunch break mid day in an air conditioned all u-can-eat buffet, then work till dark.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Ice breaks limbs out, quite often you will have a significant portion of the canopies small diameter wood damaged. Large limb failure is at defects such as decay and included unions.

With a hurricane you will see top damage and then windthrows on top of them. Supersaturated soil and straight-line wnds stack things up lime a game of pickup-sticks. I've seen root-plates 30 feet in the air.

Most ice storms occur in lowland pockets, so you can have a zone of devastation, then a relatively untouched area. With hurricanes, the devastation is wide spread with a few terrain features that may protect small pockets of relatively low damage.

 

[Mapleman]

JP,

That was a good analysis of damage assessment between hurricanes and ice storms. Most ice storms I've worked have been in the realm of tree reparation--canopy reduction, heading back leaders, etc.--where as in most hurricanes, it's tree removal. Gets back to the whole yin-yang of tree work: pruning, thinning, and tree health vs. wrecking trees, or to put it another way: finesse climbing vs. power climbing.

Usually in ice storms I'm using my 020 and 026, where as in a 'cane it's--send me a bigger saw. Another difference would be in a 'cane I feel like I'm sleeping with my spurs on, and in an ice storm, I may rarely take them out of my truck. Lastly, the money from hurricanes is more likely to come from insurance companies, so prices tend to rise a bit, lol.

 

[PurdueJoe]

Maple,

When you are down there do you get the majority of your work from private clients or do you do the gov't thing? I know during ice storms I've only dealt with private parties and usually get paid as soon as the job is done. I've heard to many horror stories about gov't gigs that took forever to get paid.

 

[Mapleman]

PJ,

Generally what I do, once a hurricane has departed, is to find out where the northeast quadrant of the storm is. That's the place where the winds are the strongest, all things considered. This is because in the northern hemisphere, 'canes spin in a counterclockwise direction, so you add the forward movement of the storm to the wind speed.

But in a big storm it hardly matters. I usually pick out a suburban neighborhood with a grid pattern of streets and trees on roofs, and put the tailgate down on my truck with ropes and saws exposed. People will come to you. During hurricane Fran in Cary, NC in '96, I was the only tree guy working this neighborhood of 1/4-1/2 million dollar homes, and I had a crane. I would awake in the morning and find my steering wheel loaded with names, addresses, and phone numbers. People will watch you work from their backyards or front doors, then approach you once you're on the ground. I NEVER work for the government.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

When you are down there do you get the majority of your work from private clients or do you do the gov't thing? I know during ice storms I've only dealt with private parties and usually get paid as soon as the job is done. I've heard to many horror stories about gov't gigs that took forever to get paid.

FEMA work sucks, sometimes you can get a small town contract that pays well, if it is affluent enough.

There are a few things with storms that have to be done:

• the storm has to be over several counties for the supply/demand to work in your favor
• The real money is made in the first few days to two weeks, by then the vultures are fighting over the shoppers work.
• People have to be able to afford the work, if you start in a blue collar neighborhood yo will be disappointed
• Everyone has heard stories of the vultures descending, you need to get a few jobs under your belt to get referrals going. then it will flow geometrically

I have headed out and took a motel a half ride out, then drove in after the storm lifted. You can get work, but often you find many people gone.

Cut people out of their driveways for good money per hour, and say you will get back for the other work when there is time. Play it right and you can stay in one general area. Church people are great to work with, once you show one you are trustworthy, it gets rather easy.

 

[tomtrees58]

one town here on L I call me back in83 hurricane gloria keep me there 38 days time and material big bucks tom trees

 

[Rftreeman]

I worked for the utility department and I probably worked every hurricane since Hugo to hit from Louisiana to Florida to Maryland, got fired in New Orleans in 2005 (long story) while doing work after Katrina & Rita, I loved the work but hated the conditions we were made to live in.

 

[Mapleman]

Rf,

I think our trails must have crossed more than once. with the exception of Katrina/Rita--out due to a hand injury from my 020--I've worked almost all of the big ones since Hugo.

John Paul gave really good advice on his post above. It mirrors my experience to a T. You need to be on site within the first day or two after the winds have died down, find a neighborhood that is socked in with debris, maybe do a little pro bono work opening up a street, and if you're competent and honest, everything will fall in place.

 

[Mapleman]

One other thing--the hardest part of working storms is finding a place to stay.
The power is out, and all hotels/motels are booked up for miles around by people getting out of harms way. Bringing your own trailer or camper is an option. I've also tented it, but that gets old real quick. Sometimes I've had to travel more than 50 miles from where I was staying to the job site. That distance might not sound too bad, but roads are closed and traffic lights are down, so travel is slow. Usually after a week or so accommodations free up, but also the insurance jobs--any trees touching man-made structures--are starting to dwindle.

Rf,

Have you ever run across a guy by the name of Roberto, last name Italian starting with an S? He worked out of Charleston for a few years after Hugo, then moved down Miami way. He's a real talker, used to sell air conditioners to Eskimos before selling tree work. Bills himself as a Christian, but drops $300-400 every night at Sushi bars and strip clubs. He also is a musician, mostly new-age stuff, but plays a mean blues harp. Ran into him during a big storm in Mt. Dora, Florida in the early 90s, and then again in Pensacola during Opal.

 

[Rftreeman]

Rf,

Have you ever run across a guy by the name of Roberto, last name Italian starting with an S? He worked out of Charleston for a few years after Hugo, then moved down Miami way. He's a real talker, used to sell air conditioners to Eskimos before selling tree work. Bills himself as a Christian, but drops $300-400 every night at Sushi bars and strip clubs. He also is a musician, mostly new-age stuff, but plays a mean blues harp. Ran into him during a big storm in Mt. Dora, Florida in the early 90s, and then again in Pensacola during Opal.

never meet the guy, all of my hurricane work was with either Asplundh or Davey, spent 13 nights in the front seat of a GMC 2500 van and countless tent cities and the food sucked most of the time but I made good money.

 

[treevet]

Interesting remnant from our hurricane last fall. Just found out how to reduce it to post. If you were a midget and drove like pet detective......

 

[arborworks1]

Stumpgrinding this year is going to be the extent of my chasing, Will have gear on hand but I'm going purely for the stumps.

Camping and in fast attack. I am planning on heading out to anything east of Texas and as far north as Virginia. Self contained for a week. Hit it hard and leave. Got most everything in order now, need to get some signs and more stump teeth. Truck is all setup and ready to roll.

This is just something I have been wanting to tackle for a few years. Might not turn into anything.

 

[treevet]

I don't think I could stand subbing out stumps. Standing by while some inept bozo fumbles around with the removal and then tries to flush with a dull saw.

Maybe it will work out well for you tho...good luck. What grinder you got?

 

[arborworks1]

A 7015 Carlton. Think I'll do ok. The two hurricanes I went to there where very few grinders working the area. I had tons of people stop to see if we would grind for them. The four tree companies I contacted told me they were subbing all there grinding work out, did I want it. This was before I got the carlton.

Imo the grinding is only good for maybe 2 weeks. Then move on. If people haven't gotten it done by then, its not happening.

 

[treevet]

You do uprooted stumps too?

 

[arborworks1]

I have done 2 so far. But yeah thats where the money is at. They take up time to make sure they are done right.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Sweet thread.

The only thing that I would add to the discussion about the difference between an ice storm and a 'cane is the amount of ice/wind verses wind.

This past year Gustav was anticlimactic, didn't make it to IKE and I'm not over that yet, but the ice that hit northern Arkansas made up for it some. They were calling it Arkansas' Katrina. Don't know if I'll ever see ICE like that again.