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The Davey Bulletin | January/February 2017
Far right: This satellite image from the
NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response
Team shows Hurricane Hermine as it
prepares to strike the Florida coast in
September 2016.
Right: Wolf Tree, Inc., a Davey company,
employees Danny Nelson and Tony
Charles worked with JEA to help restore
power after Hurricane Hermine. Photo
courtesy Melissa Ham, JEA.
HERMINE STRIKES AHEAD OF MATTHEW
Hurricane Hermine struck the Gulf Coast of Florida in the middle of the night
on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, and crews from Wolf Tree, Inc., a Davey
company, were ready for her.
The Category 1 storm's 80 mph winds tossed limbs – and in some cases whole
trees – into power lines fed by SECO Energy, one of Florida's largest electric
utilities. Some reports indicated as many as 250,000 utility customers lost power.
Andrew Steel, area manager, said Wolf Tree sent 10 crews (20 employees), two
general foremen and 10 aerial lift trucks.
"When the crews were ready to leave their first site, the utility manager met
with our two general foremen and the crews to tell them they did an outstanding
job," Steel said.
The Wolf Tree crews worked more than 80 hours responding to the storm in a mix
of rural ROWs and urban settings. They started in Ocala, Florida, and followed the
path of the storm's damage to Tallahassee, Florida, on the panhandle. The crews
worked efficiently yet safely and returned home just a few days after Labor Day.
John J. LaSelva, vice president of operations for SECO Energy, thanked the crews.
"Wolf Tree's performance was outstanding," LaSelva wrote. "Your crews
demonstrated professionalism and kindness to our members and team."
Continued from page 17
Limited access in some areas meant Davey crews had to climb
trees, shown at left, to repair damage from Hurricane Matthew.
in the hurricane response.
"I'm just really proud of them," Bour
said. "We worked incident-free with
nothing but positive comments from
the utilities. I can't wait to get out into
the field and thank some of the crews."
"It's been fantastic," Francies said of
the R/C response. "We had the most
amazing crews from everywhere. All
of them put in very long, very hard,
very safe days."
Foote said the entire Hurricane
Matthew response was one big team
effort that involved all the offices that
sent crews, their office personnel who
helped coordinate paper work behind
the scenes, corporate staff who
helped orchestrate the responses and,
of course, the crews on the front line.
"These crews that do this are very
special because they're away from
their families and the comforts of
home, and that's a lot to ask for that
length of time," Foote said. "We have
a lot to be thankful for the crews that
volunteer to do this."
