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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
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July/August 2022
MISSION
LATE NEW YORK SNOWSTORM NO OBSTACLE FOR DRG UVM
Left: DRG UVM employees who worked on the April Northeast storm
cleanup were: Nick Demarco, UVM technician; Eric Greiner, UVM
technician; Kevin Kelly, UVM senior specialist; Keith McDonald, UVM
technician; Rich Nelson, UVM lead specialist; Bill Salak, UVM lead
specialist; Jim Savitski, UVM specialist; and Taylor Thompson, UVM
technician.
Middle: A tree falls on a house in a Northeast snowstorm.
Right: Downed trees knock power out in the Northeast.
Heavy, wet snow hit central New York and surrounding areas
in April, causing downed trees and broken power lines. More
than 300,000 households lost power, including New York
State Electric & Gas and National Grid customers. Bingham-
ton, New York set a record two-day snowfall of 14 inches.
"The wet snow added weight to trees which caused them
to break apart, snapping poles and power lines. Fortunately,
leaves were not on the trees yet or it would've been much
worse," said Alex Spoly, project manager, DRG Utility
Vegetation Management services (UVM).
DRG UVM employees spent a week working on the storm
cleanup efforts. Spoly noted her gratitude to the teams for
working hard and stepping up to the challenge while main-
taining their focus on safety.
UTILITY, R/C EMPLOYEES TEAM UP IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Left: Pictured from left with a knuckle
boom truck is Southeast Seattle office's
Blake Pintler, trimmer, and Ed Blas, foreman.
Right: A 90-foot cottonwood tree is removed
at Sierra Heights Elementary School in
Renton, Wash.
A codominant cottonwood tree,
each of the double stems reaching
around 90 feet high, was removed
at Renton, Washington's Sierra
Heights Elementary School thanks to
a Davey Tree Surgery Company and
Residential/Commercial (R/C) services
collaboration.
The Seattle City Light account's Micah
Fazio, supervisor, Tyson Geldseth,
assistant district manager, Southeast
Seattle office, and Jeff McCormick,
operations manager, Washington
Utility operations, planned the project.
The large stems of the tree were near
a 12,500 volt line. "We used speed
lining to get all the brush away from
the power line to create a safe working
area for the crew," Fazio said.
Fazio's crew, including Frank Bar-
tholomew, foreman, Joe Perdue,
trimmer, and Dale Anthony,
groundperson, removed the tree.
The Southeast Seattle office crew,
consisting of Ed Blas, foreman, and
Blake Pintler, trimmer, brought in
their knuckle boom truck to remove
several loads of wood. "Working with
the Surgery Company helps us tackle
unique projects that would otherwise
be unsafe for our R/C crews. We are
lucky to have a close relationship with
them," Geldseth said.
"This is just one example of frequent
collaboration between our utility and
R/C teams in the Pacific Northwest.
We complete challenging projects by
working together," McCormick said.
