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Tree graveyard: With refreshing disregard for issues of liability, a Chesterton Tribune reporter and Chesterton Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg, aloft in the Street Department’s bucket truck, view the stack of tree debris--a block long and growing--collected in the wake of last month’s tornado, being staged at the extreme west end of Dogwood Park(Tribune photo by Kevin Nevers)
By KEVIN NEVERS Two weeks ago today, the Chesterton Street Department had only just begun to assess the tornado damage3. Two weeks later, crews have removed 100 percent of the “street tree” debris and around 90 percent of the private tree debris placed at curbside, Street Commissioner John Schnadenberg told the Chesterton Tribune this morning. What’s all that brush look like? Try a stack 20 feet wide, 12 feet high, and about a block long, growing on the hour, located at the extreme west end of Dogwood Park. “It’s just a huge, huge pile of brush,” Schnadenberg said. And it will only get bigger, as residents who have not yet finished the work of chainsawing continue to haul debris to the curb. (Schnadenberg emphasized that, so long as the cutting is being done by residents or their neighbors, family, or friends--and no money has exchanged hands--the Street Department will collect the brush. Tree service contractors, however, are required to dispose of debris themselves, and town employees are on the lookout for tree services doing work without benefit of chippers.) That brush must all be chipped, Schnadenberg noted, and at no small cost since a tub grinder will have to be rented to accommodate the sheer volume of timber. The alternative is tasking four men and two chippers to the job: figure six solid months of work. “Thats really not an option,” Schnadenberg said. “We’ll either have to hire somebody to haul it or to grind it at site, whatever’s cheaper.” “I’ve never cleaned up after a tornado before,” Schnadenberg added. “It was very challenging. I can’t say enough about the guys at the Street Department. We also got a big jump with help from the City of Valparaiso and the Porter County Highway Department the first couple of days, and the decision to hire those big trucks from Joe’s Inc. of Valpo. But my guys have been hitting it hard with the dump truck and chipper. We’ve pretty much been working 10-hour days.”
Posted 9/3/2009 |
