Closest Call?

[asthesun]

i've had two bouts with electricity. the first was in the top of a tiny dogwood i was removing. there wasnt anywhere to throw it so i climbed up and grabbed about 3 limbs as i cut them, chucking them into an open spot. i planned to do the same with the top, which was about 3" where i was cutting it. i saw that there was a power line but couldnt tell how far away it was exactly, being a very small line. i thought it was far enough, but apparently it wasnt. i notched and backcut the top, putting my saw up with one hand and grabbing the top with the other. the top touched the lines and gave me a little shock, making me flop like a fish til i was able to let go of it, where it dropped onto the bushes i was trying to avoid in the first place.

i swear it was only like 2 days later when the next thing happened. i was in a sweetgum about 80' tall with two 12" limbs over three phase power lines. i was still learning to walk limbs around by tip-tying and side notching them. i guess a combination of things happened, i probably didnt have the rope high enough in the tree and tied far enough out on the limb, the groundies probably didnt tighten the rope enough and sweetgum doesnt hold a cut as well as other types of wood. when i made the backcut, the limb swooped way too low and slapped the lines, sending fireworks up and down them. the groundmen were able to drop the limb into the open, not breaking anything. i decided it was time for lunch. when we came back, the power company was there, they lectured me about not messing with power lines, that i didnt know the dangers etc etc. i went back up the tree to finish and tried to do the same with the next limb with even less luck. the power company was in the neighbor's yard with their fiberglass pole on the line doing something. the notch acted more like a jump-cut, no swing, just drop. the limb dropped on the lines, taking all three of them out, more fireworks. the power company was PISSED.

 

[tree md]

It is by Gods good grace, my shirt was soaked with sweat but some how I did not ground all the way? Cause juice was running through me. Had a wild fire works show on the line too.

LT...

PS. Live and learn!!!!
That was @ 12 years ago.

I was just bumped by the juice as it was just the tip of the limb I cut that contacted the line briefly. Wasn't too painful. There was stinging in my feet where my metal spikes contacted my feet and the tree and throughout my whole body it felt like what I can only describe as being hit in the funny bone and it going through my whole body. Didn't necessarily hurt but it felt so weird it was excruciating.

 

[LTREES]

About 15 years ago my boss sent us to a Jersey Central Power & Light seminar. They asked how many of you guys ever got hit from a line. About 1/3 of the guys hands went up. That was only the ones that admitted it. It happens often I think.

LT...

 

[Mapleman]

It is by Gods good grace, my shirt was soaked with sweat but some how I did not ground all the way? Cause juice was running through me. Had a wild fire works show on the line too.

LT...

PS. Live and learn!!!!
That was @ 12 years ago.

Smokin' dem lines!

 

[Mapleman]

Thought of another one:

Large uprooted white pine jammed in a smaller tree. White pine had settled at about a 45 degree angle and was crotched into the smaller tree at several places. Decided not to climb the smaller tree so I trunk walked the white pine, making a few cuts with my 20 on the way up to the jam.

Tied into the smaller tree and bombed the pine top and everything else back to the pressure points. White pine doesn't lift up at all, still thoroughly wedged. Cut out all the crotches and branches of the smaller tree that are wedging the pine, starting with the easiest and least load bearing jams until I get to that last, money maker cut--the one for "all the marbles."

White pine hasn't moved a bit--no rising, settling or rolling. I figure it's going to stay put when I make this last cut. For some reason, I can't remember why right now, I pulled out my tie in and straddled the white pine to make the last cut where a stub of the pine is crotched into the standing tree. I top notch the white pine stub, then give it a slow bottom cut. The pine starts to drop very slowly and I'm thinking its gonna just hang here. Wrong! The pine gained momentum after the first ten feet or so of drop, then speeded up. I rode it forty feet to the ground, just suffering a bruised tail bone.

 

[tree md]

I was taking out a large Pin Oak a few months back and had set my block to lower some limbs. I tip tied one of the main leaders and cut it butt heavy and lowered the whole thing. I rapped down and took lunch after that and left my bull line in the block. When I went back up the tree to finish I just tied into the bull line and had one of my guys belay for me as I free climbed to the top. When I got to the top I went to take the bull line and block out of the tree and noticed that the block had come unscrewed. I had checked and made sure it was screwed tight before I lowered off of it so I have no idea how it came unscrewed but I'll be double checking it a lot more in the future, I can guarantee you that.

 

[Mapleman]

I was taking out a large Pin Oak a few months back and had set my block to lower some limbs. I tip tied one of the main leaders and cut it butt heavy and lowered the whole thing. I rapped down and took lunch after that and left my bull line in the block. When I went back up the tree to finish I just tied into the bull line and had one of my guys belay for me as I free climbed to the top. When I got to the top I went to take the bull line and block out of the tree and noticed that the block had come unscrewed. I had checked and made sure it was screwed tight before I lowered off of it so I have no idea how it came unscrewed but I'll be double checking it a lot more in the future, I can guarantee you that.

MD,

What kind of block was it? Could the bull rope had loosen the pin when your guys belayed you back up the tree? I've seen clevises lossen when a rope ran around the pin instead of the horseshoe part.

 

[tree md]

MD,

What kind of block was it? Could the bull rope had loosen the pin when your guys belayed you back up the tree? I've seen clevises lossen when a rope ran around the pin instead of the horseshoe part.

It's this one:

Not sure why the clevis loosened up but it was on the last thread when I belayed off of it. It was tight when I installed it to lower off of. I had the sling ran through the small pulley (just as pictured) and the rope ran through the big one. Had the clevis turned out from the tree as well. Only thing I can figure is that maybe the large leader I lowered came in contact with the block and it worked it loose and maybe the wind bumped it around up in the tree while I was taking lunch, further loosening the clevis (had 40 mph gusts that day). In any event, I think I will belay off of my climbing line from now on like I should have done that day.

 

[Mapleman]

Friggin' tree gremlins screwing with your gear while you're taking lunch. The same ones who empty gas tanks you thought were full before humping up a trunk. I always catch the bastards out of the corner of my eye, trying to hide my hand saw or lock the chain brake on my 020. They're the same ones who turn the water on after you've turned it off and are moving the water sprinkler...

 

[tree md]

Friggin' tree gremlins screwing with your gear while you're taking lunch. The same ones who empty gas tanks you thought were full before humping up a trunk. I always catch the bastards out of the corner of my eye, trying to hide my hand saw or lock the chain brake on my 020. They're the same ones who turn the water on after you've turned it off and are moving the water sprinkler...

Those would be the same grimlins that made my saw stall when I was cutting that limb over high voltage... :jawdrop:

 

[Groundman One]

Closest call?

Two-years ago I was asked by an ex-girlfriend (a gorgeous heartbreaker - including mine) to come and cut a tree in her backyard. So me and my climber show up, and the tree is a poplar. 45', maybe a foot across at chest height, and maybe 30' from the house. So my climber goes to drop it away from the house into the backyard, and me, ever the grandmother, says we should at least put a rope in it. He complains that I'm a wimp, but gives in and climbs all of fifteen-feet up and ties in. He comes down, I take the rope, he notches the tree and starts his backcut.

Cue the wind.

The tree starts to blow back towards the house and is pulling me with it. I've got my heels an inch-deep in her lawn and I'm being pulled like a stubborn donkey to his doom. I'm howling at my climber, "Get the wedge! Get the wedge!" He flies back to the truck, running like a bear is chasing him, gets the wedge, and flies back to the tree. My fingers are on that rope so tight the pain has reached my toes. He hammers in the wedge, and I (barely) pull the tree back to where it was supposed to go. It was as close as close can be.

It's not like we were in physical danger, or even that the tree would have done much damage to the roof, but having to tell my large breasted, beautifully visaged ex-, "Sorry, I dropped the tree on your house" would have ruined me psychologically for years. Any hope of future erections would have been lost. I would have had to become a monk and hide in a cave.

The moral: never get complacent lest the Gods strike thee in the keester just for fun. It's the "easy" trees that'll kill ya.

 

[ozzy42]

Closest call?

Two-years ago I was asked by an ex-girlfriend (a gorgeous heartbreaker - including mine) to come and cut a tree in her backyard. So me and my climber show up, and the tree is a poplar. 45', maybe a foot across at chest height, and maybe 30' from the house. So my climber goes to drop it away from the house into the backyard, and me, ever the grandmother, says we should at least put a rope in it. He complains that I'm a wimp, but gives in and climbs all of fifteen-feet up and ties in. He comes down, I take the rope, he notches the tree and starts his backcut.

Cue the wind.

The tree starts to blow back towards the house and is pulling me with it. I've got my heels an inch-deep in her lawn and I'm being pulled like a stubborn donkey to his doom. I'm howling at my climber, "Get the wedge! Get the wedge!" He flies back to the truck, running like a bear is chasing him, gets the wedge, and flies back to the tree. My fingers are on that rope so tight the pain has reached my toes. He hammers in the wedge, and I (barely) pull the tree back to where it was supposed to go. It was as close as close can be.

It's not like we were in physical danger, or even that the tree would have done much damage to the roof, but having to tell my large breasted, beautifully visaged ex-, "Sorry, I dropped the tree on your house" would have ruined me psychologically for years. Any hope of future erections would have been lost. I would have had to become a monk and hide in a cave.

The moral: never get complacent lest the Gods strike thee in the keester just for fun. It's the "easy" trees that'll kill ya.

OK, you already said she is a former[x] g/friend now.But how did it go for you the rest of the day?
I mean ,did you guys shrug it off and strut around saying to the girl "it went down perfectly ,just like we planned"
Did the customer TIP you "wink wink" appropiately at the end of the day?,Or was it all for not?:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Raymond]

Closest call?

Two-years ago I was asked by an ex-girlfriend (a gorgeous heartbreaker - including mine) to come and cut a tree in her backyard. So me and my climber show up, and the tree is a poplar. 45', maybe a foot across at chest height, and maybe 30' from the house. So my climber goes to drop it away from the house into the backyard, and me, ever the grandmother, says we should at least put a rope in it. He complains that I'm a wimp, but gives in and climbs all of fifteen-feet up and ties in. He comes down, I take the rope, he notches the tree and starts his backcut.

Cue the wind.

The tree starts to blow back towards the house and is pulling me with it. I've got my heels an inch-deep in her lawn and I'm being pulled like a stubborn donkey to his doom. I'm howling at my climber, "Get the wedge! Get the wedge!" He flies back to the truck, running like a bear is chasing him, gets the wedge, and flies back to the tree. My fingers are on that rope so tight the pain has reached my toes. He hammers in the wedge, and I (barely) pull the tree back to where it was supposed to go. It was as close as close can be.

It's not like we were in physical danger, or even that the tree would have done much damage to the roof, but having to tell my large breasted, beautifully visaged ex-, "Sorry, I dropped the tree on your house" would have ruined me psychologically for years. Any hope of future erections would have been lost. I would have had to become a monk and hide in a cave.

The moral: never get complacent lest the Gods strike thee in the keester just for fun. It's the "easy" trees that'll kill ya.

I had a similar situation minus the hot ex-girlfriend. But it was me who ran l like I was 15 years old again, for the wedges and sledge. Yelling "HOLD IT..DON'T BOUNCE IT..HOLD IT!

Now days when we get a notch and drop, the wedges and hammer get laid out like we're surgeons close as possible.

 

[Groundman One]

I mean ,did you guys shrug it off and strut around saying to the girl "it went down perfectly ,just like we planned"

Obviously.

Did the customer TIP you "wink wink" appropiately at the end of the day?,Or was it all for not?:hmm3grin2orange::hmm3grin2orange:

She wasn't home when it all hapened, thank God. I think her husband paid me the $50 or whatever it was a few days later.

 

[prentice110]

Sibierian Elm. Pulled 2 leads together way too much with a grcs. When I made the back cut and the lead released, it flipped over real quick. Im talkin bout a 35 foot lead 10inches in diameter. Flipped right next to my head. I could hear the "woosh" sound with my headphones on and with the saw still running. Only thing that saved me from getting my jaw ripped off was the other lead flyin back like when you set the hook with a fishing pole. I always watch the groundies crank that thing now, and stop em when I got what I need.

 

[Pruitt1222]

This one happened to me two weeks ago, cutting a 40' magnolia that had two residential power lines running around/through it. Each one set about two foot off the trunk 16' feet up or so. I took the foam core polls out and set them up against the wires at a angle and pushed them away from the tree for about ten foot of clearance. So I am up the tree sawing and the next thing I know smack, had a little sting with it. I turned my head and looked and got hit another time. Turns out a stray dog wanted to take my polls home. I tell you that little 240 volt line is hard to get away from when its swinging like a 2 year old monkey. I will say this though, I would prefer to take on a powerline then a beehive.

 

[TreEmergencyB]

I would prefer to take on a powerline then a beehive.

no way man big lines are scary!!! ever attend a seminar or anything unless your allergic or something bees aint gonna kill you, well......if your still tied in when you see em,

bees really dont scare me at all if i notice a hive i climb gingerly right too that limb and lose it, if possible few stings dont hurt, or if we know about it before we do the job come by climb that tree and spray them basterds the evening b4 your job

 

[rngrchad]

I once topped out a 25+ ft section of tree. Flopped it into an adjacent top...I was about 50ft off the ground and luckily as able to quickly spike around the spar to get out of the top's way, but the tip of the tree caught an adjacent tree and rather than leaving the spar, came back into it before finally falling. I had no where to go, and frankly had luck and quick reactoions on my side. Phew. Not ever making that mistake again. Damn thing almost landed in my lap. I gotta say, you either get wise quick, or you die quick. There aren't too many other options in arbor work.

Tree Md, your story gives me the heeby-jeebies.

 

[MonkeyMan_812]

Today I was cutting a peice off and it set backwards and hit my arm downward. The chain was about 1/2 inch from cutting into my left wrist. Would've been nasty.

 

[outofmytree]

I think the worst for me was losing my crane point recently when removing a River Red Gum (E.camadulensis). Had 1 groundie on the North side hauling for direction and the other on the West side belaying via the porta wrap. These are smart guys and always keep a long way from the trunk which was just as well. The spar to be removed was tied at the top and, as per the previous limbs, was to be cut and swung through 90degrees then dropped nice and quick. This time the crane branch tore off nearly 4 metres below the pulley and both branches came down at top speed. Both groundies were fortunately just out of range and the spars landed facing North and West without touching the house!

Should have bought a lottery ticket that day...