REMOVING A TREE FROM A PHONE LINE

Earlier this week the Owen Tree crew had an unusual project for a local communication company. The communication company called because a tree had fallen on their phone line and they said it had stretched the phone line all the way to the ground. When our arborist arrived at the location he observed that the phone line had indeed been pulled all the way to the ground, but was still attached to both telephone poles! The phone line looked to be carrying a heavy load of pressure (tension) holding the line to the ground.

This can be a very dangerous situation for not just the crew performing the tree removal, but to any surrounding structures, people, or vehicular traffic. Our concern was that if the weight of the tree was suddenly removed from the phone line it would go flying into the air. The pressure on a phone line in this situation is similar to pulling back on a slingshot. Removing a tree from a phone line in this scenario can be a serious problem if not executed with extreme caution.

Although there are different ways to approach this situation this is how the crew of Owen Tree handled this particular tree removal. Before starting any cutting of the tree that was holding the line to the ground, the phone line had to be secured in the position that the heavy tree had put it in. This was done by using a 1/2 inch work rope and a 5/8 work rope to keep the phone line in place, at ground level. This allowed the tree removal crew to start relieving some of the weight that held the phone line down. With each piece of the tree that was cut the danger of the line catapulting the tree, or any other debris, increased. With this in mind we had one crew member designated to watching the phone line and the tree at all times while weight was being cut from the tree to assure safety to the crew.

With the line being secured to the ground and the tree being gradually cleared from the phone line, if there was any tension on the phone line the crew would be able to use the work ropes they secured to the phone line to slowly allow the line to pull it self in to it's normal position - 20 feet above the ground. However, after the tree was cleared from the phone line the crew members were relieved to discover that there was not as much pressure on the line as was first thought. Some of the precautions we took in setting up the work and our cautious approach to cutting the tree weren’t necessary, but we didn’t mind. It was all for the better and it made the tree removal much easier and safer to perform.