Davey Tree Flipbooks

10 THE DAVEY BULLETIN | November/December 2022 DRG TAKES CHARGE Several employees from Davey Resource Group (DRG) traveled into Florida, where in some cases they served as crew dispatchers managing response tickets for tree and line crews waiting at storm staging sites. Dave Benninger, area manager, Environmental Consulting services, coordinated the storm response for employees Susan Hull and Jason Snodgrass. They managed dispatch work for FP&L. "There are various staging areas crews are being dispatched from, the utility line crews and line clearance tree crews, and it was our folks receiving communications of where work needed to be done and how to mobilize the crews," Benninger said. "We would give the instructions and information to those crews to keep things efficient. It's just about owning the staging spot and making sure people are staying busy." Lindsey Ksiazek, UVM technician, DRG Utility Vegetation Management services, also worked dispatching crews for Lee County Electric Cooperative, which employed over 2,500 contractors during its peak restoration efforts. Steve Rounds, vegetation management, Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC), said Ksiazek generated a buzz among LCEC contractors. "She was always available to direct vegetation resources to our most pressing needs in power restoration," Rounds said. "She walked side by side with MISSION Opposite page: Photos from throughout Florida submitted by Davey employees show the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Ian and Davey crews assisting with the recovery. LCEC leadership, taking notes of work sites and assigning to tree crews. She worked closely with tree contractors and aligned them with the outsourced line contractors. If tree crews were sitting idle while waiting for assignments, Lindsey would scout for locations and put them to work. This was exactly what we needed. She was the calming peak of professionalism in the jungle of managed chaos." Rounds said Ksiazek was later assigned to act as coordinating liaison between LCEC and all of its tree contractors on the islands of Sanibel and Captiva, which were the most devastated areas of the utility's territory. R/C OFFICES INUNDATED Calls for emergency storm work flooded the Naples and Orlando Residential/Commercial (R/C) offices, which fortunately did not sustain any significant storm surge or wind damage. Rich Wiland, district manager, Naples office, said North American Tree Service, Inc., a Davey company, sent four employees to help with storm work and the Davey Charlotte office sent six employees because the Orlando office's call volume was so high. Charlotte office district manager Ray Betz was coordinating work for Wiland at the Bay Colony Golf Club, where several large ficus trees had fallen over and needed removal in addition to countless broken limbs, hanging palm fronds and other wind damage that needed addressed. The Naples office also helped long-time client Naples Zoo with its cleanup so the zoo could reopen to the public. "Going around, talking to clients and hearing their experiences, and just feeling how they felt by hearing their stories ... the water coming into their back sliding door, they'd thrown some towels down, and next thing they knew it was up to their knees," Wiland said. "One couple had life preservers in an upstairs room with a planned escape route. Stories like that really make you realize how serious it was and that it's good that they made it through." Further north, the Orlando office received close to 100 calls for storm work. Ben Wasielewski, district manager, Orlando office, said a lot of the storm damage they worked on involved major tree failures that fell on top of or through houses. "I'm thankful for the support of everyone in corporate and the local offices and my employees, who worked hard together," he said. "They stayed strong and kept going." said wa sid sid Wolf Tree Daniel Bright It was a pleasure working with Daniel during Hurricane Ian. He was responsive and quick to initiate work between himself and his crews. Daniel followed proper safety measures, including appropriate PPE. Daniel was flexible and processed work amongst his crew in an efficient manner. Daniel did well with coordination efforts between the various changes that occurred during storm and did everything he could to make sure the jobs he had were handled and finished to completion. I would love to welcome Daniel back as part of my team in any future storm. Manny Montanez BHI Energy - Storm Hardening Working on behalf of Florida Power & Light West Palm Beach, Florida

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