Storm-related cleanup continues to be busy

Rogue Tree Solutions in Smithville has an emergency response line, which means that Corey Parsons can get calls at any time of the day.

So when he got a call at 12:30 a.m. on June 14 for a downed oak tree, he wasn't surprised. What did surprise him was the additional nine calls, all for fallen trees, that came in minutes afterwards as he was trying to get ready to leave and respond to the first call.

For the rest of that day and following two weeks, Parsons said he and his staff have been cleaning up debris following the storms that hit the area June 13. As of Friday, June 24 he estimated that they had responded to roughly 200 to 300 calls.

Parsons is not alone as several other tree service and landscaping companies in the area have been helping communities clean up storm damage with several weeks' worth of damage to still clean up. With the extra work comes delays to their normal jobs and some companies say it may take weeks to get back on track with their normal services and customers.

When there are hundreds of calls, Parsons said the first thing they do is categorize how bad each one is so they can figure out which ones to respond to first.

For example, Parsons said when there is a tree on a structure then it becomes a higher priority, and even more so depending on the building.

“So, if it's on a garage, that's a big deal, but it's not as big (of) a deal as (when) it's laying in someone's kitchen,” Parsons said.

Besides the influx of calls, other challenges of storm clean up include getting to the client and finding a place to discard debris.

Matt Maibach, owner of Maibach Tree Services, said he and his two crews had trouble navigating around all the closed roads which not only delayed how quickly they could respond, but also limited the number of calls they could respond to in a day.

Since Maibach's company is from Rittman, making the roughly 30- to 40minute trip up there to dump its debris also complicated things. Luckily, he was able to work with a friend and company in the area to find space to get rid of the debris and save on driving time.

Safety can quickly become a concern following storms, Parsons said, because both fallen trees and fallen power lines can pose problems.

“It's very easy for people to get killed from electrical lines,” Parsons said. “Just because the line is down and it could be de-energized, all it takes is a homeowner hooking up a generator incorrectly and now it'll recharge those power lines.”

As a certified arborist, Parsons also knows that fallen trees can hold a lot of stored energy – sometimes up to 1,000 pounds of force – which can pack a punch if they are not cut and removed correctly.

Before Maibach and Parsons can send any crews out to a site, they must get approval through insurance companies before removing any debris to ensure the company will cover its services for the client.

Due to long response times from insurance companies and some miscommunication with local insurance agents, Parsons said it sometimes took three to four days to get a job approved and a crew assigned to it.

After two weeks of nothing but storm clean-up, Parsons and Maibach said they still have a long way to go.

Parsons estimates he has about 40 to 44 storm-related calls left which may take his teams another two weeks, in turn putting them further behind on other calls.

Maibach said he recently called one of his teams back up so the customers in their normal service area, who may have already waited a month or two, aren't delayed again.

Despite all the challenges they faced, both Maibach and Parsons are grateful for the long hours and hard work their teams have put in over the past two weeks. Parsons said through the 16hour shifts and 90-degree heat, his teams never lost sight of the communities they were helping.

“It's a very stressful time for people,” Parsons said. “

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