This is good. Growing up, I did a lot of tree work. My best friend‘s dad did it, full time. I about died, several times. They had a giant trailer
chipper that could take anything we could feed it. As kids, it was fun to put the large stuff in, just to see if it would eat it. It always did.
One day we were putting stuff in the giant
chipper, by ourselves. I was probably around ten years old, maybe a bit younger. I got a big (for me, anyway) branch started and turned to get the next branch. As the
chipper pulled the branch in it snagged me. Since I was facing away from the
chipper, to grab the next branch, I was pulled backwards. I ended up getting pulled up onto the feed tray and in a full panic was able to twist enough and hang onto the edges of the feeding tray tight enough the branch went in, without me. It did rip my shirt and I had some skin missing and I was terrified, but continued working like nothing happened. When they asked what happened to my shirt, I just said a branch got it. I’m still scared of those damn things. I’ll use them, but I’m much more careful, many years later.
Another time I about died was when I about fell out of a double bucket truck at near full extension. The truck was parked as close to the house as it could be and we were over a house. I had a chainsaw, in one hand, and would hold the cut branch, with the other. After making the cut, we had to swing the branch, so it wouldn’t hit the house. Unfortunately, I was too short for my feet to reach the bottom of the bucket and still work. I used the edge of the bucket, to hold my waist, while I had my legs pushed against the sides of the opposite side of the bucket to lock me in. One of the branches gave way as I was cutting, before I was ready and was too heavy, for me to stop it. It jerked my legs out of the bucket before I could let go of the branch and get the saw clear. Fortunately, the way I got pulled I ended up jammed between the bucket and the linkage holding the bucket, just not
in the bucket. I also managed to not drop the Stihl saw. I sat there, frozen, one hand holding the saw, the other arm wrapped around part of the boom (stick? I don’t know what the part is called). My friend was in the other bucket and tried to help me get back in my bucket, but he was too far away and too little to really to help. I managed to relax enough and get back in my bucket and back to work, but since then, I’ve had trouble with heights. After that, I only worked in the bucket truck, when I had to.
My friend took over his father’s business. Sadly, next week will be the fourth anniversary, of his death. Nearly four years ago, he was in a bucket and accidentally hit a power line. As it was reported, by his brother, who just happened to stop by to pick something up, my friend hit the line and was immediately on fire. The brother jumped on the truck and started moving the bucket to the ground. When he got about ten feet away, my friend, who was flailing around due to actively being on fire, fell out of the bucket and landed on his head. His brother got the fire out and help on the way. He was then flown to a burn unit. I drove a hundred miles to see him, even though we had not spoken, in a few years. I had been a cop and a fire fighter, for several years, and have seen about everything bad there is to see, but didn’t go in and see him. I made it to his door. I talked to his family and left. He died a couple days later.
