Almost two years ago I called NYSEG to give them a heads-up about a few trees that were dead and needed to come down.
In order to have NYSEG remove the dead trees they have to be within 10ft. of the powerlines. There were five dead trees that met this requirement. On several different occasions I had someone from the power company come to our residency to assess the situation, each promising that a crew would be out shortly to deal with the situation. I waited and waited and waited some more, and finally they showed up on 8/21/23 after almost two years.
Not only did they show up, they showed up in force and were up and down our road for several weeks. I had an ulterior motive for wanting the trees removed. Not only were the trees threatening the power lines they were also threatening my garage, fence, and vehicles.
With their 60-foot boom truck, they were able to reach most of what needed to be addressed.
This gentleman I got to know pretty well, his name is Wyatt the head guy of the crew. He has worked for NYSDEG for ten years and it showed. He was an expert.
Before they got started I was wondering how the hell they were going to topple these monsters without them falling on our fence or garage.
Watching Wyatt work with the skill of a surgeon, he started removing the bottommost branches one by one until the tree was void of all of its limbs. After debranching the tree he started at the top of the tree dropping just a few feet of the tree at a time. As he got closer to the ground he would drop longer sections.
Branches that would have landed on the fence or garage, Wyatt directed to an area that was clear.
After removing the dead trees that were around the garage, they restaged their boom truck and removed another five trees that Wyatt felt needed to be cleared from the power lines.
At times Wyatt would disappear from sight as he positioned the bucked smack in the the middle of a tree.
After removing eight trees that he deemed threatened the lines, I asked him if he would be willing to remove several trees that I had wanted down for a while now. They were not near any lines, but I was willing to pay him for his services. I had another five trees in mind.
About two months ago I had a private tree company come in to give me a price to have them dropped and cleaned up. Their estimate was $5,200. At that price, I decided that I would wait for #Mother #Nature to topple them.
The price to have this huge dead ash tree taken down by the private company was $2,800 alone.
Well, when I showed Wyatt the five trees that I would like for him to drop, he said that he could do it, but it would have to be after his workday was done. My next question was, what would it cost me? When he said that he would do it for $500, I asked him when he could start. I tried to keep a POKER FACE, knowing that he was willing to do this job for a fraction of the price I was quoted by the private tree experts.
Being that the trees they were going to drop for me were nowhere near any power lines, he decided to let one of the ground guys jump in the bucket and get a little experience. This dude's name was Cory and he jumped into the bucket, grinning from ear to ear.
With a watchful eye, Wyatt gave him a few instructions.
Within 45 minutes the monster dead Ash tree lay on the ground.
The one thing that I forgot to mention when Wyatt gave me the $500.00 price was that they would drop the five trees, but that I would be responsible for cleaning up the mess. After three hours the five trees lay on the ground. I paid Wyatt and threw him an extra 50 bucks.
NO PROBLEM, knowing that I could do much of the cleanup with my new tow, the Kubota tractor. I think that it worked out great for the both of us, he had a couple extra bucks in his pocket and I saved a boat load of money.
The stump of the dead Ash tree told the story of its demise. The center of the tree was hollowed out by the Emerald Boring Beatle.
After dealing with the trees next to the garage and the ones that I paid for, 😀 they followed the power lines that travel for 1,500 feet on our property, dropping every tree that was dead.
By the time they were done clearing the power lines,
they had laid enough wood on the ground for this year's firewood.
Just an added bonus to the great price I paid for the ones I had toppled.
We loose electricity a few times every year from trees that wreck havoc on the electrical grid.
Just maybe, this year we will not have to cook on the wood burning stove,
walk around the house with our head lamps on,
wear gloves indoors,
buy bottled water,
or contemplate renting a room until the LIGHTS COME BACK ON.