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January/February 2021
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
Kenny Rowe, area manager, said several of his
supervisors took crews to Louisiana and then went
straight to Florida once they were discharged from their
clients on the Zeta response.
"This year was back-to-back storm responses, and each
response was several weeks at a time," Rowe said.
Supervisors responding from Rowe's area were Matt
Jerome and Gary Cannady, City of Easley account; Richald
Plumb, AEP account; and Paul Childress, Appalachian
Electric Cooperative account.
"I am extremely proud of each of them and what they
have done," Rowe said. "2020 was a different year with
COVID-19 restrictions and everything else. There's been
a lot of added pressure. There have been a lot of different
things you have to think about on a regular day-to-day,
much less the storms. But the crews are a tight group.
They looked out for each other, kept each other safe and
got their work done. They stood their ground and didn't
once lapse in their safety protocols."
Hurricane Zeta rolled through Georgia on Halloween
weekend. Although weakened to a tropical storm, Zeta
delivered a deluge of rain to the Atlanta area, toppling
trees whose roots gave way in the saturated soil.
Chris Heim, district manager, Atlanta office, said the
sustained winds combined with the heavy rains flooded
his office with emergency tree care calls.
"We responded to 70 jobs in October and November
from the storm," Heim said. "Two employees from the
Nashville R/C office came to help for two weeks and
were a huge help."
Heim said the storm work, combined with their prior
back log of work, led them to handle only emergency
work for existing clients.
"I am super proud of our crews for stepping up with
all the stresses of 2020 with a can-do attitude, going
in there and taking care of our customers after that
storm," he said. "That was our No. 1 goal."
ZETA SWAMPS ATLANTA R/C OFFICE
Above: The damage this tree caused to this Atlanta-area
house when it fell after Hurricane Zeta rolled through was
typical of the challenging work Atlanta R/C office crews
handled for Davey clients.
Davey general foreman Ademir Merino stands in front of a large,
mature tree knocked down during the 2020 hurricane season.
