Urban tree removal: be the talk of the neighbourhood
Up until about 9am this morning we had this big, dead elm tree straddling our property line. Now it’s gone. And so, too, soon (or is that “And so too, soon”) will be our fame.
Everyone I know in our neighbourhood came up to me to ask about the tree today.
It would have been hard not to notice.
The arborists showed up in a fleet of trucks increasing in size – starting with a pickup – until the grabber truck showed up.
A grabber truck has some sort of crane thing on the back, sitting just behind a huge wooden box. And when it’s working, it makes a huge racket.
At the end of the crane’s arm are these huge salad tong things with a chainsaw on one side.
One of the crew manipulates the crane arm while about four other people are down below, sawing up the smaller bits.
The crane operator moves the crane into position, closes the salad tongs tight around the tree, and then saws through the chunk of tree and then either lowers the tree bit down for the other crew to cut up, or lowers it into the big wooden box.
Thing is, this is a massive metal arm grabbing onto a dry, dead elm tree that reaches over the houses around it. Every time the operator closed the tongs around a limb I saw the whole thing shake. Every time I thought for sure this is going to send the thing crashing through my neighbour’s bay window.
But no. I marvelled at how the operator was able to lift sections of the canopy out from between two other trees and lower it to the ground without either impaling any of his co-workers or opening any new holes in the three nearby houses.
The tree, being quite tall, and the machinery being quite loud, the event was the talk of the block. When I got home today, neighbours near and relatively far asked me about how it had gone and wanted to know all about the ins and outs of it.
I am actually quite relieved that it’s gone. Every day that had a breeze would see some big hunk of bark falling onto our driveway. Soon I figured it wouldn’t just be bark falling.
If you live in Ottawa and you need someone to come look after a tree where you live, or remove a dead one, Campbell Tree Experts get my hearty recommendation.
Their estimator was knowledgeable, helpful and accurate. She gave me absolutely no bullshit about when they’d be able to get to the job. Her crew gave me as much notice as they said they would, showed up when they said they would, did what they said they would (plus a few extras) for the price they quoted.
Their cleanup was thorough and they worked very conscientiously. They swept the driveway, for crying out loud.
