Death Of Peter Donzelli

[treeseer]

cut down trees to drive in a boom truck, wreck the lawn, whatever, be safe.

It'll always be a judgment call. Those who knew Peter best are continually working to make the work safer, but they are not ignoring other values. If we were thinking safety first and nothing second, we'd have no room for tree care, just logging.

 

[treeman82]

That was the version told to me by Ken Palmer, and he had after pics to show.

 

[clearance]

It'll always be a judgment call. Those who knew Peter best are continually working to make the work safer, but they are not ignoring other values. If we were thinking safety first and nothing second, we'd have no room for tree care, just logging.

The tree in this tragedy was a removal, safety always comes first, your way of thinking seems to suggest that safety can be compromised by the value of a tree. A "judgement call" what do you mean by that, I sure hope it isn't "maybe the tree will fail, but the tree is so nice, I guess I'll risk it", is that what you do? Logging is far more hazardous than arboriculture as far as fatalities go, are you advocating evening things up?

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

One of the promises of the Equal & Opposite Reaction's duality, is that the relief of force; can be as powerful as the application of force. The way i h'eared it; ground control thought he knew better/ was inexperienced and held the rope tight; not giving relief of force as told. Guys have done it to me; can't control everything from the air. But, this isn't about beating anyone up.

i like tying in below fault if i go above it, then sling and krab choked very body length or so and 1 leg of line placed thru it.

It is all just a sad reminder, that if the smartest amongst us can be taken anytime; anyone can fall prey to such an event; never drop your guard.

 

[xtremetrees]

CoreyTMorine it was a lightening struck pine that killed pete, from the ole days when ISA could manage a forum. I never did meet him.

 

[CoreyTMorine]

CoreyTMorine it was a lightening struck pine that killed pete, from the ole days when ISA could manage a forum. I never did meet him.

I didn't think the ISA was ever to awful good at managing their forum, they sure as hell couldn’t manage most of the people there, LOL

Re lightening struck trees; I've seen sap pockets split a tree for 40 feet. One incident i wasn't there for, but heard about back at the shop that night; Apparently Matt cut a big ol chunk off of a LS Fir. It must have been the last chunk holding the split part of the tree together. When it was cut, half of the tree started to slide down, I guess Matt looked like a cartoon cat running in mid air trying to get his hooks into something that wasn't moving.

Eastern white pine doesn't usually build internal sap pockets, not like Doug fir anyway. In the vast majority of Pinus strobus I have seen, the lightning damage runs in a spiral down the outside of the tree.

 

[treemandan]

Tom,

Thanks for clarifying. I only met Pete six or seven times and he was a great fellow.

Pete's ability to grasp physics concepts thrown at him by conference attendees was very impressive. Pete had a wonderful mind and his passing was a great loss to the arboricultural community.

Dan

Apparently he didn't bring this ability that day, from what Dunlap and reports said this sounds, well, it sounds freaking rediculous. Picturing it in my head? Jeez, I hate to say sublime. Sounds like he rolled the dice and lost.

 

[treemandan]

Tragic accident, nothing we can do about it but learn from it. To lay blame on the groundsman is wrong, and also unfair to the groundsman who must think about this often. The climber runs the show, makes the decisions. I would let it lie but I want to get something across, if you are risking your life on your groundsmans ability to let a rope "run", you are an idiot. The fact that a highly educated man who actually wrote the book on advanced rigging died using his own techniques should be a continual wakeup story for every one here. Hammer it down, cut down trees to drive in a boom truck, wreck the lawn, whatever, be safe.

To declare the climber runs the show and mean it is the worst strategey there is. Think about what is being said here. How far would have Hillary gotten without a good sherpa?

 

[treemandan]

To the memory of Dr. Peter Donzelli!

 

[Iustinian]

To declare the climber runs the show and mean it is the worst strategey there is. Think about what is being said here. How far would have Hillary gotten without a good sherpa?

I agree -- a groundman can shockload the rigging point if he doesnt allow the peice to run; Peter was the one who taught us that "a 630 lb log can generate over 7k lbs of force AT THE RIGGING POINT before it hits the ground".

every climber knows that an inexperienced groundman, or a good groundman off his game that day can shake us off that spar; we trust our groundguys to a great extent many days, especially if we've worked with them for years.

Peter Donzelli IMO was one of the greatest teachers we had -- The Art and Science. As Alex Shigo is considered the Father of Modern Arboriculture, I consider Dr. Peter Donzelli to be the Father of Rigging in Arboriculture. I learned alot from him, and continue to do so, even after he's been gone. "How you know someone was a very special guy is when you continue to learn from them in life after they have left." --porsche965

 

[chris_girard]

This is an old thread that I’m not really surprised to see come back.

Pete’s death is really a misfortune in that it never should have happened. In his life and in his death, we continue to learn from him.

May he rest in peace.

 

[murphy4trees]

I would very much like to know what kind of rigging line was being used.. My guess is that it was low stretch, and had he used a lighter line with more stretch, he'd still be with us..

 

[Zale]

I would very much like to know what kind of rigging line was being used.. My guess is that it was low stretch, and had he used a lighter line with more stretch, he'd still be with us..

How could you say that? You sanctimonious blow-hard.