Tree Climbers Prep to Combat Sandy’s Wrath

Credit: flickr / MTAPhotos

As Hurricane Sandy batters the Northeast, most people are hunkering down at home. But for tree climbers, this is overtime.

PM recently met Gary Gross, a founder of the New England Tree Climbing Association, when we took a class to learn the basics of tree climbing tech. Gross teaches classes on tree climbing for professionals and interested adventurers, but business has picked up because of recent powerful storms. "This puts a huge demand on our business, not only beforehand?with people trimming trees around power lines to try to prevent damage?but after the storm," Gross says.

He tells PM his classes have filled up since the aftermath of Hurricane Irene last year. He usually teaches until the end of September, but this year he?s extended his classes into late November. In fact, Gross was teaching a class today in Connecticut, even as the storm approaches.

Gross says many of his students work for big tree companies and stand to make a big profit when the weather gets rough. But individuals can help mitigate the damage after a storm as well. For example, individual climbers might be able to clean up in a case where a fallen limb in a backyard has knocked over a power line?and save the tree in question. "Lots of companies use those big cherry picker trucks, but many suburban backyards aren?t big enough for those trucks, so they end up removing the whole tree."

(Of course, Gross teaches the tech and techniques for climbing trees. Storm responders need extra training and certification before they can deal with the very dangerous aftermath of a storm.)

Data from the Hurricane Hunters confirms Sandy is already producing record storm surges as it prepares to move over land. For tree climbers, it?s go time.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/tree-climbers-prep-to-combat-sandys-wrath-14227884?src=rss

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