On Sunday February 9th, 2020, Storm Ciara battered the UK and Ireland with fierce winds and heavy rain, leading to extensive damage and disruption.
Hailed as one of the most significant storms of the decade, with winds of up to 80mph, it is not surprising that we attended many tree surgery callouts across Essex and Suffolk in its aftermath.
The callout
One of these callouts was an urgent request from Highways England to address an issue in Chapel, a quiet residential area in Colchester, where multiple trees had fallen onto a fibre optic cable.
We were tasked with securing the site, removing the trees, and ensuring the safe passage of local residents.
Faced with a challenging scenario on a narrow dead-end road, the out-of-hours, emergency response team brought their specialised tree surgery skills to the fore. Their immediate goal was to maintain safety and to prevent any further damage from being caused to the cable.
The solution
Having assessed the site and the damage caused, the team closed the road to guarantee that the area could be secured from a health and safety perspective.
A cherry picker and rigging were then used to ensure that the trees, which included a large Oak and several smaller Oaks and Ash trees, could be safely dismantled. Given the nature of the job, it was necessary to protect the adjacent fibre optic cabling to prevent any further damage.
Although access was tight, the trees that were leaning on the optic cable along the length of the road, were safely removed to ensure that minimal disruption was caused to local residents.
