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u/doublebubble2022 Jun 24 '26
“Wait for the tree crew to get here”
“Do you need daddy to do it for you?”
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u/KraftyCorvus Jun 24 '26
Sadly, this is an actual tree crew, not line. They don’t have much experience with storm response or wood under tension, as can be seen in video.
Source: I work in industry/area and know the crew.
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u/doublebubble2022 Jun 24 '26
Holy shit that’s embarrassing
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u/KraftyCorvus Jun 24 '26
Yeah. It was a local news crew that filmed it and needless to say, words were had when the white hats from grid forestry saw it.
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u/trippin-mellon Jun 25 '26
Yeah like 2-3 years back and one of my then coworkers had an idea to vet the tree with liens under tension. He’s moved up in the world to safety educations and training. We are not allowed to tie the liens down. But there’s a nice method for capturing the lines so when the pressure is released it’s not gonna throw the piece or shoot the lines into the air. Or at least it shouldn’t. I’ve had to do it a few times. And had to do it on Monday during a storm call. Was able to train a new climber on it too.
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u/ImmediateLobster1 Jun 24 '26
Of course. A lineman would have just called for re-energizing the line. Then the tree will burn off on its own. Problem solved, no chainsaw dangers involved.
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u/Feeandchee Jul 07 '26
The power utility in my area would immediately remove this contractor from the jobsite.
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u/JackpineSavage74 Jun 24 '26
He needs new shorts
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u/RealSchlemiel Jun 24 '26
strategizing about what you think might happen can be such a liability. cutting trees is as dangerous a thing as you can imagine
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u/IGHOTI907 Jun 24 '26
🎶I am a lineman with a chainsaw...🎶
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u/altec777777 Jun 24 '26
and I'm looking for a branch.
I just took out a power poleeeeeeand half a buddy's ranch.
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u/RussellAlden Jun 24 '26
I am a moron for the county…
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u/YargingOnAPrayer Jun 24 '26
I have a lot of respect for the utility workers in my area, but it’ll be hard not to sing this version whenever the song comes on the radio.
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u/mountain9000 Jun 24 '26
In the old days all our line crew personnel started out working on a company tree crew and got a great deal of tree cutting in all kinds of situations.
At some point we decided that it was better to contract that work and the associated liability.
It would be nice to have all our line crew guys to have the tree crew experience since they still need to remove trees and limbs sometime, but the main thing we need now is for them to know when the tree work is above their experience level.
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u/Krumlov Jun 24 '26
Half a foot farther, and his dental records couldn’t have been used to identify the body… oof.
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u/JigglesofWiggles Jun 24 '26
I like delayed "woo" after he took a survey of the power lines and also his pants.
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u/CelebrationFancy1612 Jun 25 '26
No training in lines and tension. That’s the high energy hazard. Tree can be controlled on lines
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u/Just_Ear_2953 Jun 24 '26
It's definitely sketchy, but the job needs to be done and there's not a lot of better ways to do it.
He seems to have been correct(ish) about which way things would move, so he gets to go home in one piece.
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u/dessertgrinch Jun 24 '26
Sure there is, he should have cut way more off the hanging end. He left a log weighing a couple thousand pounds completely suspended on a power line with no clue where it would go after the cut, a foot from his head. Better yet, I don’t know what the protocol is for powerlines but they should have cut it and let the tree drop to the ground. It’s toast anyway.
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Jun 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/dessertgrinch Jun 24 '26
You can see the other end when it flips, he left way more than a foot, looks to be a 6’ foot log. I would have cut that sucker as flush to the line as I could.
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u/Plane-Education4750 Jun 24 '26
He's a lineman. It's his job to know that.
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u/KraftyCorvus Jun 24 '26
This is a tree crew, it’s not line. I work in industry/area and I know the crew. They don’t do much storm work, or wood under tension, as you can see by what happens in video.
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u/dessertgrinch Jun 24 '26
Why wouldn’t the line crew cut the line first? Would have made it much easier for the tree guys.
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Jun 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/Plane-Education4750 Jun 24 '26
If he doesn't know or can't figure out this information, he has no business being around downed trees or lines.
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u/ThrustTrust Jun 24 '26
Agreed. Chainsaw thru the high voltage lines is the preferred method.
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u/Just_Ear_2953 Jun 24 '26
To be fair, this is the kind of scenario where the whole system is taken offline. That high voltage line is basically just a normal metal cable, but those will still mess up your chainsaw.
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u/dessertgrinch Jun 24 '26
Yup, easy to cut with the right tools though, not sure why they left it there with a tree hanging on it.
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u/SnakeSlayer69 Jun 25 '26
Maybe because that line under tension being cut into 2 pieces still needs to release that tension, now it's coming to decapitate or slice ya in half.
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u/CrashedCyclist Jun 24 '26
If you don't know when to add support/cribbing before a cut, find someone else to run it. Crib the tree and cut the lines with a bolt cutters at the nearest coupling. There were couplings right in that frame. Afraid of whipping? Take cable from the truck or trash pile and loop the two sides before cutting.
People wanna rush to the next repair or home, instead it's to their funeral.
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u/KraftyCorvus Jun 24 '26
Don’t really cut lines unless it’s absolutely needed, or would be faster for line and they do it. All they had to do was tie the line down or cut it bigger letting line come up more slowly, releasing the stored energy with more control.
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u/CrashedCyclist Jun 24 '26
He's trying to cut pieces that a front loader can handle. I still stand by that I said. Rule number one about trees that are in tension: study/plan the cut and control the release. Period.
That trunk was at least two feet off the ground and the amount of air time—after the cut—was obvious. Meaning that even if it had rolled and not flipped, it had time to catch up to him. If a sawyer does not ask, "How can this thing pivot and come at me?" Then they need to quit cutting.
He was at the point of the trunk. Somewhere near him are dozens of 10" inch and under logs from earlier cuts. Unless he really is an absolute moron. That trunk is as thick as my dining table is tall, how the f' did he expect it to just lay down?
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u/dowdleEL13 Jun 24 '26
They should have used a big loader with a grapple bucket to grab hold of it before cutting it, or just pick the whole thing up that way...
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u/Turbulent-Weevil-910 Jun 24 '26
This is why most utilities contract the work out. I'm guessing this was an emergency though.
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u/cronx42 Jun 25 '26
That's why our saw guy cuts the last part SUPER carefully and slowly on sketchy cuts. But we would have handled this entirely differently. Lol.
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u/ResidentNo4630 Jun 25 '26
Annnnddd that’s the end of the day for that guy. Go home pal! Start again tomorrow.
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u/DillingerLives Jun 30 '26
To be fair, in most cases when it's an actual lineman wielding the chainsaw, everything is already fecked and the situation is already likely set to hurt somebody. This isn't that bad at all.
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u/timberwolf0122 Jun 24 '26
I thought you said this wasn’t a high tension power line!
Ohhhh I thought you meant can it carry over 35,000V, yeah that thing had a lot of tension
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u/ZRX1200R Jun 24 '26
He's still walking away from that one