Hurricane Clean-UP

[Tree Machine]

Your spirit is beyond impressive. Your crew are an inspiration. Corbett, who has had the misfortune of losing both his legs, looks like there was a very bright spot in his day.

Thanks for bringin it home to us, Pantheraba.

 

[pantheraba]

Great shots pantheraba. Thanks for sharing. I bet you are beat after all of that work!

Dan

We got in approx 11 last night...only had one trailer tire blowout in AL (I think)...cops stopped Lindsay (my wife) last night as we left my office...thought we were stealing stuff...I was behind her with our white trailer...and then, 2 minutes after we cleared that up, the trailer came off the hitch as I crossed the RR tracks 300 yds from my house...had to floor jack it up in the middle of the intersection and reset on the ball (the person who hooked it up only set it down, did not latch ball hitch or lights...we were all pretty wiped...next time I check it before I take off!!!)

All turned out OK, though...just glad everything happened on the last day, not down there.

You are right, TreeCo, we are all pretty tired but it's a good tired. We'll be unloading, sorting and trying to remember which donated/loaned saw/come-a-long/wrecking bar, etc. goes back to which person.

Here are some pictures from the flight we took before we left yesterday...at the airport and over Biloxi, Gulfport, and points in between...you can see a casino washed ashore, a neighborhood of ten houses totally demolished, a pecan orchard laid low.

These picts are from 2500 feet. Our second crew got permission to overfly at 1000 feet, so their pictures will be even more sobering.

Remember to appreciate what you have.

 

[Tree Machine]

What an experience!

Pantheraba, I'm sure you're still going through your gatherings and getting reorganized as you re-enter 'real life'. Your journey has been fruitful. If you knock your video pieces into features that are from 1 minute to 5 minutes each, I will be glad to post them on my website, like this one I recorded recently after properly tuning my Silky, http://www.treeguy.info/videos/silky/silky_top_gun.mov (heh heh) 4.1 meg, sorry dial-up guys, it'll take a couple minutes.

I'm getting better at working the video and transmitting and hosting it, so bring it on to me, brother, and we'll get it posted for everyone else to see.

Have you addressed the sling you hit with your handsaw? You may have to call on our resident splice expert, Nick from Wisconsin. You can PM him through this site and I will PM his phone and address to you.

 

[fordsrbetter]

hello

hello everybody. just got home from 12 days of the being in the "zone" we brought our crew home to see there families. just got back 10 min ago. seeing is deffinatly believing. cant describe the masive destruction of this this storm. our plans were to go to hattiesburg but upon arival that city was bad but not like it is south of there. we are in and around wiggins mississippi
everyone down there is very appreciative of all the working leaving there families to come down and help them.
we came back home while its raining for a little break have lots of work to do in gulfport next week when the rain lets up. were leaving wed. for a few more weeks at least.
for those that want to go down to make a fortune i dont think it will happen. once there, its a eye opener. you wont even consider charging outrageous prices because these people have lost everything. we went down hopeing to make a fortune that change the first day we rolled in to town. starting helping people out for reasonable rates and have been blessed with kindness that i cant describe. the first customer let us park a camper, and equiment, hook up electricity and sewer. wouldnt take any money for this. we run the AC all day and night and he doesnt care. have eaten home cooked lunchs and supers everynight from diferent local families, all of my crews wives are coming down in a week and one nieghbor hood is going to have a huge southern cook out for us. one older retired gentleman lets us use his washer and dryer also not accepting any money. like is said were not getting rich from this with money but the experiance, memories and friends i've made thus far is really amazing. you truely have to "be there done that" kida thing. like i said early if you like to work have a time of your life head down. we have lots of work to when we get back in gulfport. there is tons of work in gulfport, bay of st louis, oceans springs if anybody is wondering these place are destroyed looks like a bomb went of i will try to get pics of the work i have done and need to do if i get time but cant promise anything going to spent as much time with the family as possible.

well hope its not to long hope every one has a great weekend i know i will.
pray for the RITA, and KATRINA victims, and relief workers

D.J. Walsh
Precision Tree Choppers

 

[Tree Machine]

DJ,

You are awesome, man. Thank you for putting it in perspective. My hat is off to you, and we're looking forward to the pictures!

 

[topnotchtree]

Just a few from my trip.

 

[topnotchtree]

A few more....

 

[topnotchtree]

Note the lack of leaves on the trees still standing. They were all blown off!

 

[Tree Machine]

Wowwwwwwww......

 

[pantheraba]

Great write up...I agree, a lot of the "pay" you get there is in heartfelt "thanks" from the folks down there.

Your evaluation of the "massive destruction" gibes with what we saw...Slidell is just plain blasted...EVERYWHERE you look there is damage, lots of it major.

The last picture shows what happens when a tree gets up a good head of steam.

 

[Tree Machine]

Double wowwwwwww....... cut right in two.

 

[TreeJunkie]

Any opinions of good areas to go in texas. Looking at taking a 4-5 many crew down w/ bobcat/ dumptrailer/4wheeler/gear. Does anyone know of areas affected w/ higher per capita incomes?

I'll also be looking for camp site for our rv and camping gear...Any suggestions?

 

[theXman]

Is it worth it???

Is it worth it??? I hope so.........

Hi, this is my first posting on this site. I was directed here by "another" site cause of this Katrina thread you have here.

First of all, thanks for all the good information and I hope it keeps coming.

My brothers and I are thinking of taking our crews down there. We have numerous chip-trucks(3 F550's,1F350,1 L8000), 2 truck cranes(small one maybe 80', and big one on Peterbuilt truck with Manitowoc 38124S -38Ton 124'main boom), 3 ASV's(the best rubber track skidsteers) each with implemax grapples(two 4810's and one 4520) and many stump grinders (rayco 1672, RG120, super50 4X4) and bandit chippers (254, 1490 and 1890).

We are thinking of just taking the 2 cranes, and 2 chip trucks to haul tools and tow two of the ASV's. Crew of men going would be 3 skilled climbers, and 4 skilled groundmen.

I think it's great you guys are helping and I'd like to also, but I sure would like to see that you make more than what your regular days gross is in your hometowns.

If I leave my home area and my bread and butter customers, drive two days to the south (we are in Maryland) and deal with all the headaches, I'd better be making much more than what I do now. Hey, I run a business and it wouldn't be smart to venture down there if I don't make good money at it.

I have a couple questions:

1.Anyone willing to share what FEMA pays you? Is it by the hour and set to your crew size and equipment? Or can they just give you a section of a town and give a contracted price to clean it all up?

2. Would it be good to hook up with one of the big companies (Davey, Bartlett, Aspundh???) and how do you do that?

3. Are there still lots of trees ON houses and ON structures???

4. What kind of cell phone services are working down there now? How's Nextel?

Again, thanks for all the great info and I hope to see more. If we go down, I will definitely contribute all the info I can to this thread.

later,
X

cell 443 807-3665
office 410 838-2999
email: [email protected]

 

[pantheraba]

Is it worth it??? I hope so.........

Hi, this is my first posting on this site. I was directed here by "another" site cause of this Katrina thread you have here.

We are thinking of just taking the 2 cranes, and 2 chip trucks to haul tools and tow two of the ASV's. Crew of men going would be 3 skilled climbers, and 4 skilled groundmen.

I have a couple questions:

1.Anyone willing to share what FEMA pays you? Is it by the hour and set to your crew size and equipment? Or can they just give you a section of a town and give a contracted price to clean it all up?

2. Would it be good to hook up with one of the big companies (Davey, Bartlett, Asplundh???) and how do you do that?

3. Are there still lots of trees ON houses and ON structures???

4. What kind of cell phone services are working down there now? How's Nextel?

Again, thanks for all the great info and I hope to see more. If we go down, I will definitely contribute all the info I can to this thread.

later,
X

cell 443 807-3665
office 410 838-2999
email: [email protected]

I worked in the Picayune, MS, and Slidell, LA, area for 2 weeks. We did volunteer work so I do not know how tree crews are being paid.

Both those areas are slammed...Slidell was the worst. There are a LOT of trees still on houses. We did a removal from a house without a crane...we could have used it. I only saw one being used the whole time we were there...I am sure a lot are being used but we happened by only one in our driving around.

So, there are plenty of folks that need crane work done, I just don't know how you line it up.

We also did hazardous limb removal...from over houses, trailers, driveways...plenty to keep climbers busy, too.

Cell phones worked but a bit spotty. Sometimes had to stand on logs in fields in the boonies to access a cell...in town they were pretty good..I have Sprint, others had Verizon, Nextel.

Hopefully, some other folks can help more with the FEMA/money aspect.

 

[Jim1NZ]

Amazing the devastation of winds that exceed the 4.5 safety factor of trees.

 

[Tree Machine]

I think it's great you guys are helping and I'd like to also, but I sure would like to see that you make more than what your regular days gross is in your hometowns.

If I leave my home area and my bread and butter customers, drive two days to the south (we are in Maryland) and deal with all the headaches, I'd better be making much more than what I do now. Hey, I run a business and it wouldn't be smart to venture down there if I don't make good money at it.

Hey Xman, welcome to the site and thanks for contributing.

Your concerns align with almost all of us commercial guys going down there. I think you've put the questions better than most.

Like any astute businessman, you're looking at the opportunity as an invesment; If i am to absorb the opportunity costs of leaving my home business and invest the money, time, equipment and manpower, am I going to acheive a return on investment greater than that of what I'm doing currently?

That IS the $64,000 question. Unfortunately, like any investment, there are risks. No good investment is without risks. Right now you're doing your homework, or as it's known in the investment community, due diligence. You assimilate all the information you can, make a decision, make a plan, work the plan and see if the outcome matches your expectations. Do better than your expectations, good decision, good plan. Do worse, you kick yourself, come back home and dig out of the hole you created.

That's the invesment model. Since we as humans can't predict the future, and often have little or no control over the variables, the unknowns, the weather, the economic conditions, local economies, people's spending behaviors, and your employee's attitudes in the zone of the unknown, an invesment can often boil down to your intuition and pure gut instinct. If you have little to risk, then you have little to lose and you can go for it knowing, at worst, you're not going to cripple yourself.

From just the little I know of your situation, I don't think you have any business going down there without a FEMA contract. The size of your company and the level of gear you posess tell me you have a thriving business at home. Staying home is low risk, high reward. Going down is high risk, potentially high reward but no guarantees whatsoever. There is no assurance you will come out ahead, none. Promises can not be made that way. Simply said, we just don't have the answers to the questions you pose.

Things down there are dynamic. The way it is this week is different than how it will be next week. Information now will be outdated days from now. One neighborhood will be vastly different from the next and to know where the best places to go and where are the deepest pockets?, well, wouldn't it be nice to have that information. We'd all be rushing for the same spots.

The closest you could get would be to know someone living on the inside, someone 'in there' to give you first-hand information and guidance. Then, once down there, having a sales guy out ahead of your work crew lining up jobs. For the tree companies that are down there, if they find a sweetheart area, I wouldn't expect them to be inviting everyone else in. From a business / investment standpoint that would be shooting yourself in your own foot.

Our place here is to support as best we can our arborist community and the cleanup effort. We offer information and logistics, but not promises and guarantees. I do wish you the very best.

 

[TreeJunkie]

How about campsite locations? Or wealthy areas of suggestion..????? I could have swore someone said they had all the camping areas spotted out....

 

[TCTREESERVICE]

yawnsss

 

[pistol pete]

hurricane camping

If you want to come camp in a hurricane zone plan on doing it in a parking lot. Most of the camp sites we have come in contact with were devastated by fallen trees and unusable. If they are usable the government will commandeer them for relief workers. We have found that trading work for a place to park works well. Bring two generators for each camper and plan on both of them breaking down. We have had three different generators break down because of bad gas. Bring four or five spark plugs for each generator and some tools to work on them. If you don't have a camper with air conditioning plan on losing 50% of your employees in a hurry. Well good luck and be careful down here. Oh and if you want to stay in touch with your buddies on arborist site, I picked up a wireless Internet connection device for my laptop from verizon in Slidell, and it works great.

 

[theXman]

thanks for the welcome and thanks for the continued information and suggestions all.