Earth and Space News: Storm Damaged Tree Clearances: Matched Teamwork of People to Equipment

Summary: Geoff Kempter of Asplundh Tree Expert Company ties savvy storm damaged tree clearances from lines and roads to the matched teamwork of people to equipment.

Matching people and equipment fine-tunes storm-damaged tree clearances; bucket truck used in storm-damaged tree cleanup: Joseph O'Brien/USDA Forest Service/Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Storm damaged tree clearances from lines and roads are top priorities in Storm Response, Part 3: Effective Response to Large- and Small-Scale Storm Emergencies in the October 2013 issue of Arborist News.

Geoff Kempter of Asplundh Tree Expert Company bases successful large- and small-scale storm emergency responses upon coordinated, human and mechanical resource-matched teamwork of people to equipment. Successful storm responses call upon coordination by storm center personnel who "work entirely within the confines of a building, without ever actually seeing the crews working." They also depend upon crews that do not flinch from "collective efforts" or from "extraordinary amounts of time and hard work, sometimes at considerable personal sacrifice."

The action of mobilized crews and of storm centers emerge most pertinently and presciently when equipment, site, tree and weather data exist in accessible, up-to-date formats.

Planned, pre-coordinated, pre-mobilized matched teamwork of people to equipment furnishes municipality- and utility-operated storm centers with means, motives and opportunities for local deployments within two hours.

Local, small-scale storm emergency responses get general timelines of cleared lines and roads and of restored power and water within several hours to within two days. Having on-site safety specialists supervise crews "that are used to working together" helps "maintain order, discipline, and some semblance of normalcy" and reduce "risk of accidents." It is a contributor to timely completion of storm work, whose delineation from routine work involves more than "a single branch" breaking "on a breezy day."

Large- and small-scale storm responders jar citizen sensitivities by judging catch-up routine, or off-site restoration, work priorities over chipping storm damaged tree clearances and removing debris.

Quality monitors know of two criticisms when regional mutual assistance associations and storm centers pre-position a pre-storm planned, pre-coordinated, pre-mobilized matched teamwork of people to equipment.

Budgets and timelines lead storm responders to leave debris from storm damaged tree clearances on-site for chipping and removal by property residents or through public funds. Purportedly improving the "speed and effectiveness of the restoration effort by strategically moving personnel and equipment before storms strike" means earlier start-times for hopefully earlier end-times.

Early, large-scale mobilizations necessitate "costly" expenditures since "The size of responses to large storms has been increasing in recent years and can involve thousands of workers." They offer "advance preparations for areas" in projected paths of gradually developing hurricanes and winter storms or expensive rehearsals or huge waste "if forecasts are wrong."

Concerns about safe transits and temporary accommodations and for earlier end-times provide support for planned, pre-coordinated, pre-mobilized matched teamwork of people to equipment before storms strike.

Competition with evacuees for food and lodging quits being problematic through early mobilization into "tent cities" at strategic locations for centralized, comfortable, convenient economies of scale. The realization that "Every response is different and poses unique challenges" requires "[d]amage assessment teams composed of experienced utility, government, or contract employees" to mobilize first. Guidelines about "appropriate clothing, supplies, and information that may be required in unfamiliar work environments" and about "local work rules, customs, and hazards" strengthen all mobilizations.

Storm damaged tree clearances tend to be as economically, humanly, mechanically, physically and temporally non-disruptive as prescient planning, priority pre-coordinating and proactive pre-mobilizing take turns spotlighting.

Timely clearing of storm damaged trees matches teamwork of people and equipment; cleanup after storm in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota: Joseph O'Brien/USDA Forest Service/Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

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:

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. October 2013. "Storm Response, Part 3: Effective Response to Large- and Small-Scale Storm Emergencies." Arborist News 22(5): 14-21.
Available @ http://viewer.epaperflip.com/Viewer.aspx?docid=de1c0fc1-9f51-447a-858a-a2ae0094c6c5#?page=14

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 August 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Damage Assessments: Pre-Storm Planned Preparedness.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/storm-induced-tree-damage-assessments.html

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

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 August 2012. “Tree Risk Assessment Mitigation Reports: Tree Removal, Tree Retention?” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/tree-risk-assessment-mitigation-reports.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 June 2012. “Internally Stressed, Response Growing, Wind Loaded Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/06/internally-stressed-response-growing.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 April 2012. “Three Tree Risk Assessment Levels: Limited Visual, Basic and Advanced.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/three-tree-risk-assessment-levels.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Risk Ratings for Targets and Trees.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Falling Trees Impacting Targets.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
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

Earth and Space News

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Storm Damaged Tree Clearances: Matched Teamwork of People to Equipment

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