Tree work is literally a “high calling” for NALGW employees

Workers from New Albany’s Lights, Gas and Water (NALGW) department did some high level work in a city park Tuesday, June 30th.

A dead pin-oak tree, estimated at 130 feet in height, was taken down piece-by-piece by workmen using the city’s hybrid-powered bucket truck. The truck’s 65 foot lift, as mounted on the ten-foot high truck body, can extend workers about 75 feet above the ground.

Kevin Wilson and Dustin Freeman were high in the air attacking the dead pin oak tree.

Including the height of the truck the bucket of the city’s hybrid truck will reach about 75 feet above ground when fully extended.

Six-inch diameter log falls free when Wilson and Freeman complete the cut.

With the truck parked in the middle of the playground area at the Park-Along-the-River city workers Kevin Wilson and Dustin Freeman attacked the dead tree with ropes and a chain saw,  filling the surrounding air with wood chips and the distinctive smell of hardwood sap. Some naturalists say the unique smell comes from acetic acid released when pin oak and other varieties of red oak timber is sawn.

Some sources claim hybrid bucket trucks used by utility companies can save more than 20 times as much fuel as a hybrid automobile.