We had a very bad storm here in Winnipeg Saturday night. Sunday morning after I cleaned up the branches and twigs for an hour in my yard, I decided to walk to nearby Mandalay Drive that a friend told me was blocked by fallen trees. I was not ready for the carnage that greeted me: 20 inch poplar trees snapped off at the base, crushed vehicles, people wandering around taking pictures and shaking their heads. The City clearing crews were nowhere to be seen.
Nobody was doing anything about it, so I went back home and got my saw and car. I parked close to the first tree I could get access to and started cutting. Soon people were pitching in to drag the branches away that I had cut. By the time I was halfway through the first tree a small crowd had gathered to watch and women were handing me bottles of water whenever I needed it.
A women asked If I could cut free her trapped car. This was the first of a few that had to be cut away from trees, and the least damaged with a few small dents.
About an hour from the time the saw fired up someone (Now a new friend) showed up with a 4x4 Chevy truck and started dragging the large cut limbs to the side to clear the road. This speeded things up considerably as I didn't have to cut pieces only as big as people could drag.
For 4 hours a group of a half dozen of us worked to clear the road and free vehicles. One Toyota Tercel had its front end crushed bad enough to damage the suspension. The trickiest one was the Jeep in the pictures, I had to climb onto the trunk and cut a foot off at a time while a person supported the section to keep it from falling onto the roof. When I had finally taken enough weight off of the vehicle, 5 men put their shoulders under the trunk to lift it while the owner drove out from under.
By now the crowd had grown to about 150 people, and a round of applause was given us as the Jeep got out from under. Made me feel pretty good.
The City crews finally showed up 3 hours after we had cleared the road. This left a lot of people feeling bitter, until our group finished working there was no way emergency vehicles would have had access to a hundred or more homes if they were needed.
The saw that made this possible? a little Homelite XL-1. I had the bar buried many times and it just kept chugging away, flinging out the chunks. Halfway though the day someone showed up with a Stihl 026......and a dull generic chain. It was useless on anything except the smallest stuff. I had a freshly sharp Stihl chain, and the difference was night and day. It's true; it doesn't matter how much power you have behind it, you can't cut crap with a dull chain. I wound up nicking myself with mine after the day was done, it was still razor sharp.
I was too tired to collect any wood for myself after it was over, so I told myself I would collect some after work the next day. Well, almost all of it was made off with the next day by people who didn't lift a finger to help us the day before. Nobody tried to use their saws on the "Big Boy" though, and I claimed this prize for myself. While I was pondering if I should risk my back on the biggest pieces I cut, someone walked up and gave me a hand loading them. He said he saw me cutting it down the day before and figured I deserved the help and the wood. A lady also had wood for me already cut up in her yard, she said I was the one entitled to it as I had originally cut it off the tree.
During the work I heard some smart ass calling us "cowboys" and one who had a car rescued called me a "hero". Time after time people asked me if I worked for the city, even though I was dressed in a camo hat and didn't look at all like a city worker. They could not understand I was just there to pitch in and help out. And then there were the ones who understood we were just being good neighbors, and that's the way I prefer it. All in all a couple of days to remember.
Nobody was doing anything about it, so I went back home and got my saw and car. I parked close to the first tree I could get access to and started cutting. Soon people were pitching in to drag the branches away that I had cut. By the time I was halfway through the first tree a small crowd had gathered to watch and women were handing me bottles of water whenever I needed it.
A women asked If I could cut free her trapped car. This was the first of a few that had to be cut away from trees, and the least damaged with a few small dents.
About an hour from the time the saw fired up someone (Now a new friend) showed up with a 4x4 Chevy truck and started dragging the large cut limbs to the side to clear the road. This speeded things up considerably as I didn't have to cut pieces only as big as people could drag.
For 4 hours a group of a half dozen of us worked to clear the road and free vehicles. One Toyota Tercel had its front end crushed bad enough to damage the suspension. The trickiest one was the Jeep in the pictures, I had to climb onto the trunk and cut a foot off at a time while a person supported the section to keep it from falling onto the roof. When I had finally taken enough weight off of the vehicle, 5 men put their shoulders under the trunk to lift it while the owner drove out from under.
By now the crowd had grown to about 150 people, and a round of applause was given us as the Jeep got out from under. Made me feel pretty good.
The City crews finally showed up 3 hours after we had cleared the road. This left a lot of people feeling bitter, until our group finished working there was no way emergency vehicles would have had access to a hundred or more homes if they were needed.
The saw that made this possible? a little Homelite XL-1. I had the bar buried many times and it just kept chugging away, flinging out the chunks. Halfway though the day someone showed up with a Stihl 026......and a dull generic chain. It was useless on anything except the smallest stuff. I had a freshly sharp Stihl chain, and the difference was night and day. It's true; it doesn't matter how much power you have behind it, you can't cut crap with a dull chain. I wound up nicking myself with mine after the day was done, it was still razor sharp.
I was too tired to collect any wood for myself after it was over, so I told myself I would collect some after work the next day. Well, almost all of it was made off with the next day by people who didn't lift a finger to help us the day before. Nobody tried to use their saws on the "Big Boy" though, and I claimed this prize for myself. While I was pondering if I should risk my back on the biggest pieces I cut, someone walked up and gave me a hand loading them. He said he saw me cutting it down the day before and figured I deserved the help and the wood. A lady also had wood for me already cut up in her yard, she said I was the one entitled to it as I had originally cut it off the tree.
During the work I heard some smart ass calling us "cowboys" and one who had a car rescued called me a "hero". Time after time people asked me if I worked for the city, even though I was dressed in a camo hat and didn't look at all like a city worker. They could not understand I was just there to pitch in and help out. And then there were the ones who understood we were just being good neighbors, and that's the way I prefer it. All in all a couple of days to remember.
