Emergency Tree Works at Cromford: Doug Porter – Conifers and Evergreens
Storm Otto arrived in the Matlock area and turned what was scheduled to be our rest day into a marathon of emergency tree works which only ended after the sun had set.
The wind had been intensifying for a few hours and sure enough around mid-morning, we received a phone call from a Cromford landowner who was concerned about an ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior) which had started to lean over a public footpath. Photographs were sent to us which allowed us to advise the client that the tree appeared dangerous and needed to be dealt with straight away. Losing no time we drove over to Cromford and using a chainsaw felled the ash tree onto the ground where it no longer posed a danger. The tree was then sliced up into manageable lengths for the landowner to deal with later.
No sooner had we returned to our base near Tansley than we received another phone call from a Cromford resident who was very concerned about a very large Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) that was standing on the edge of their property, close to a busy road. After receiving a digital photograph of the damaged tree we could see that the wind had taken hold of a large vertical branch and twisted it to the point where it had failed.
Dangerous Branches Are a Menace
The branch, weighing several tonnes, was now in a precarious horizontal position, only being attached to the main trunk by a few fragments of shattered wood and with much of its weight suspended between the branches of an adjacent oak (Quercus robur) and a Sycamore (Acer Pseudoplatanus). The lower branches of all three trees had become an intertwined mess of shattered wood. We had no hesitation in advising that the dangerous situation needed to be dealt with immediately.
Hung-up branches are always unpredictable and potentially dangerous, posing a technical challenge to those tasked to make them safe, but once on site our lead arborist, Doug Porter demonstrated his years of experience by quickly and expertly stabilising the branch using a series of carefully positioned ropes and pulleys. Our portable capstan is Invaluable for such work, when attached to a nearby tree it provides a temporary adjustable anchor point. Once stabilised the branch was no longer able to fall in the direction of the road.
Experienced Climbers
Doug then used his tree climbing skills to safely climb, with his chainsaw, up to the level of the entangled branches in order to start carefully removing all the wood that was dangerous and unsafe. Section by section the branches were safely lowered to the ground where Freya in her role as skilled groundworker made good use of our ‘Worky-quad’ skid-steer loader to move the several tonnes of wood and brash into a pile which will be dealt with using our powerful Forst TR6 chipper when we return to the property.
By this time the sun had set, so the final clean-up of the site was undertaken using light provided by our head torches and mobile plant.
We eventually returned to our base after a very long but satisfying day.
Need Emergency Tree Works?
Do you have damaged or dangerous trees on your property? if so, contact Ascent Tree Solutions. Our expert Tree surgeons are ready to assist.
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