Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 20, 1994 TAG: 9402210307
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
And dollar signs.
As the owner of Poor Man's Tree and Landscaping Service, Georgia should perhaps rename his business in the wake of last week's tree-felling ice storm.
Taking a break Saturday from a trimming job in Roanoke County, Georgia wiped his brow and figured he had enough work to keep him and his two brothers hustling for the next month - without a single day off.
"Seven days a week, 12 hours a day," he said. "If I could find an eighth day in the week, I'd have work for it."
With Saturday's high a balmy 67 degrees in Roanoke, it would have been easy to forget last week's ice and snow - unless, like Georgia, you were cleaning up after it.
Most people were inconvenienced by the storm in one way or another, but Georgia credits it for giving him three months of business in what would normally be his off-season.
"One person's hardship is another person's gold mine," he said. "My season usually starts in March. This one started in January and it hasn't slowed down since."
Since coming to Roanoke from New York, Georgia and his two brothers - Nick and Tony - have learned that tree service can be hard and dangerous work.
Because most people are not fond of climbing damaged trees with a screaming chain saw in hand, they usually call the professionals.
"I love this job," Tony Georgia yelled from 20 feet up, as the upper half of a large tree missed him by inches and crashed to the ground.
From a truck below, Chris and Nick Georgia used ropes to guide the falling tree away from a brick house it once shaded.
It takes skill to bring a tree down just right, and Georgia and other professionals were suspicious of the many free-lance tree trimmers advertising their services this week by word of mouth and newspaper classified ads.
"The people who are out there with just a pickup truck and a chain saw, it's like a lit firecracker," said Tim Hullett of Paul Bunyan's Tree Service Inc. "You had better get out of the way."
Although individuals usually charge less than professionals, "cheap isn't always best," Hullett said.
Both Hullett and Georgia recalled cases in which inexperienced workers dropped trees on top of houses, then quickly vanished. Most have no insurance to cover such accidents, Georgia said.
But with so many trees either downed or damaged by the ice, there seems to be plenty of work to go around.
If the number of chain saws rented Saturday was any indication, many homeowners were taking matters into their own hands.
"We've been renting them out steady," said Glenn Campbell of Aztec Rental in Roanoke. "As soon as they come in they go back out."
While the storm may have been a boon for the tree service business, it could well produce a glut in the firewood market come next autumn.
Georgia says he had already collected so much wood, "I won't be able to give it away next fall."
\ ICE STORM WAS COSTLY\ Estimates of the storm's impact\ $56 million in damage, about $17 million of which was not insured, according to the state Emergency Services Department.
\ $10 million in snow removal for the state transportation department, including labor, materials, contract crews.
\ $9 million in personnel and equipment for Appalachian Power.
\ $3 million to $4 million in personnel for Virginia Power.
\ $46,000 in overtime, equipment and damage for the Virginia State Police, including about $12,600 in damage to seven state vehicles involved in wrecks, according to Douglas Dix, property and finance officer.
\ $6,000 for personnel and equipment for the Virginia National Guard. About 35 guardsmen in Richmond and Bowling Green worked to provide assistance to Caroline County, according to Lt. Col. Mel Sherin, emergency operations officer.
\ So far this winter, the state has spent $46 million on snow and ice.
- Associated Press
by CNB