Storm Induced Tree Damage Assessments: Pre-Storm Planned Preparedness

Summary: Geoff Kempter of Asplundh Tree Expert Company links storm induced tree damage assessments to pre-coordinated, pre-mobilized pre-storm planned preparedness.

Pre-storm planned preparedness identifies response phases and recovery stages that facilitate damage cleanup; windstorm damage cleanup: Joseph O'Brien/USDA Forest Service/Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Proactive preparation achieves the best storm induced tree damage assessments, according to Storm Response, Part 2: Preparing for Safe and Effective Responses to Storms in the August 2013 issue of Arborist News.

Pre-coordinated, pre-mobilized pre-storm planned preparedness builds the most successful storm responses, "large and small, locally and remotely," according to Geoff Kempter of Asplundh Tree Expert Company. Storm damaged and failed trees "cause widespread damage to infrastructure and can block access for police, fire, utility and other first responders" until tree-clearing efforts commence. Local governments, service providers and utility companies develop long-term plans for acknowledging, assessing and mitigating storm risks and draw upon relevant "personnel, equipment, and support services."

Efficacious plans, whether by central storm centers or by commercial arboricultural firms, effectuate command chain-linked duty delegation for contract, emergency, government, service, supply and utility personnel.

Contact lists, contract pre-negotiation, equipment and tool maintenance, inventory checks, practice drills, procedural meetings and training sessions fill pre-coordination phases in pre-coordinated, pre-mobilized pre-storm planned preparedness.

Contact lists generate alternate, back-up, on-call and primary personnel contact information while pre-negotiated agreements give billing and delivery terms and responder pay rates and work rules. Equipment and tool maintenance, inventory checks, procedural meetings and training sessions help to inspect resources, services and supplies for performance reliability and skill sets for relevance. Drilled contingencies and rehearsed scenarios involve alternate communications, ancillary floods, back-up routes, evacuation points, resource retrievability, response times, route restrictions, staging areas and storm-specific seasonal demands.

Practices juggle everything, even storm-specific impacts and track forecast cones, preceding "actual movement of personnel, supplies, and equipment" for storm induced tree damage assessments and mitigation.

The pre-coordinated, pre-mobilized pre-storm planned preparedness that precedes storm induced tree damage assessments keeps track of prevailing and seasonal weather for storm-specific paths, scales and strengths.

Monitoring site and weather conditions daily, "especially during the times of year when storm response is likely," lets storm center coordinators and personnel "pre-mobilize" to respond. It means smoother actual mobilizations of line- and road-clearance equipment and personnel by storm centers and such regional mutual assistance associations as The Southeast Electric Exchange. It needs to be done since "Storms like tornados or severe thunderstorms often strike quickly" while "hurricanes and ice storms may take several days to develop."

Surveillance offers confirmations or contradictions for such technology as U.S. National Hurricane Center track forecast cones whose accuracy and inaccuracy rates are 67 and 33 percent.

Response phases and recovery stages in successful storm responses put into effect storm induced tree damage assessments and mitigations by contractor-, firm- and utility company-employed arborists.

Pre-coordinated, pre-mobilized pre-storm planned preparedness quickens response times for "initial clearing efforts following storms" to ensure "that damaged trees are properly assessed and saved when appropriate." Drilled scenarios and rehearsed contingencies represent opportunities for line-clearance, risk assessment and risk mitigation arborists to remember sites with trees on the verge of a breakdown. Knowing area sites and trees softens inevitable catch-up stresses since "storm work performed by outside crews also represents work not done where the crews are based."

Storm response skills tend to be marketable since "most large-scale vegetation management work is contracted" and contingent upon climbing, interpersonal and pruning abilities and electrical knowledge.

NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) provides track forecast cones that are critical for defining response phases and recovery stages of pre-storm planned preparedness: NOAA, Public Domain, via NOAA National Weather Service (NWS)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to:
talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Image credits:

Pre-storm planned preparedness identifies response phases and recovery stages that facilitate damage cleanup; windstorm damage cleanup: Joseph O'Brien/USDA Forest Service/Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images @ http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=1397063

NOAA's National Hurricane Center (NHC) provides track forecast cones that are critical for defining response phases and recovery stages of pre-storm planned preparedness: NOAA, Public Domain, via NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) @ http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/hurricane/resources/TropicalCyclones11.pdf

For further information:

Gilman, Ed. 2011. An Illustrated Guide to Pruning. Third Edition. Boston MA: Cengage.

Hayes, Ed. 2001. Evaluating Tree Defects. Revised, Special Edition. Rochester MN: Safe Trees.

Kempter, Geoff. August 2013. "Storm Response, Part 2: Preparing for Safe and Effective Responses to Storms." Arborist News 22(4): 12-19.
Available @ http://viewer.epaperflip.com/Viewer.aspx?docid=45e61ade-aa19-4124-8054-a29d00b07435#?page=12

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Failures From Heavy Tree Weights and Weather Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/storm-induced-tree-failures-from-heavy.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 April 2013. “Urban Tree Root Management Concerns: Defects, Digs, Dirt, Disturbance.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/04/urban-tree-root-management-concerns.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 February 2013. “Tree Friendly Beneficial Soil Microbes: Inoculations and Occurrences.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/tree-friendly-beneficial-soil-microbes.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 December 2012. “Healthy Urban Tree Root Crown Balances: Soil Properties, Soil Volumes.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/healthy-urban-tree-root-crown-balances.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2012. “Tree Adaptive Growth: Tree Risk Assessment of Tree Failure, Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/10/tree-adaptive-growth-tree-risk.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/tree-risk-assessment-mitigation-reports.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/06/internally-stressed-response-growing.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/three-tree-risk-assessment-levels.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment-risk.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 December 2011. “Tree Risk Assessment: Tree Failures From Defects and From Wind Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/tree-risk-assessment-tree-failures-from.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 October 2011. “Five Tree Felling Plan Steps for Successful Removals and Worker Safety.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/10/five-tree-felling-plan-steps-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 August 2011. “Natives and Non-Natives as Successfully Urbanized Plant Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/natives-and-non-natives-as-successfully.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 June 2011. “Tree Ring Patterns for Ecosystem Ages, Dates, Health and Stress.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/06/tree-ring-patterns-for-ecosystem-ages.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 April 2011. “Benignly Ugly Tree Disorders: Oak Galls, Powdery Mildew, Sooty Mold, Tar Spot.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/04/benignly-ugly-tree-disorders-oak-galls.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 February 2011. “Tree Load Can Turn Tree Health Into Tree Failure or Tree Fatigue.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/02/tree-load-can-turn-tree-health-into.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 December 2010. “Tree Electrical Safety Knowledge, Precautions, Risks and Standards.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-electrical-safety-knowledge.html