Ameren Illinois, Nelson Tree Service and Russ Erlinger Crane Service quickly devised a plan to use a crane to safely remove an 80-ft oak tree that was heavily damaged by the severe weather that impacted the Metro East on March 14.
A customer noticed the damaged tree late Tuesday afternoon and called Ameren Illinois to inspect the situation. The customer reported that the tree was nearly split in half and swayed when the wind picked up. It was determined that the only way to safely remove the entire tree without causing damage to the two homes on either side of the tree and potential damage to power poles and power lines was to use a crane.
If the tree would have fallen on the power lines, it would have caused a larger outage and the restoration time would have been lengthy due to the size of the tree. Taking this proactive step to remove the tree will help ensure reliability of electric service for the neighborhood.
Ameren Illinois de-energized the power lines in the 900 block of Wesley Avenue in Cahokia Heights at approximately 10 a.m., March 19, to start the tree removal. It took about 90 minutes for the tree limbs and the base of the tree to be removed. Power for about 100 customers was turned off for two hours while the tree was removed. The crane operator estimated the base of the tree that he was responsible for safely securing weighed an estimated 7,000 pounds.
"Preventative maintenance, like removing trees, is not uncommon to the work we do at Ameren Illinois, but it's rare to have to call in a crane service," says Rick Johnson, manager of vegetation management for Ameren Illinois. "In this case, it was the right thing to do. Not only were we maintaining the reliability of the electric grid to keep the tree from falling into our infrastructure, but we were also focused on the safety of the customers who lived to the right and left of the tree."
After the job was completed, one of the customers thanked and blessed each on-site member of Ameren Illinois, Nelson Tree Service and Russ Erlinger Crane Service. Power was safely restored to the 100 customers.
