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Tree Removal Businesses Staying Busy following Wind Damage

LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — The latest round of wild weather has been a hardship for many around northeastern and central Pennsylvania. For folks in the tree...

LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. -- The latest round of wild weather has been a hardship for many around northeastern and central Pennsylvania.

For folks in the tree removal business, this promises to be a very busy week.

As blue skies and sunshine poked out near Dickson City Monday morning, dark clouds and rain hovered over other parts of Lackawanna County.

Strong winds sent a bail of hay for a spin towards Route 107 near Lackawanna State Park. A nearby road sign didn't stand a chance. Neither did a storage structure down the road.

Near Dalton, Titan Tree Service was removing the top of a tree from a roof. The company started getting calls before sunrise.

"Very hectic," Alec Senofonte of Titan Tree Service said. "Calls started coming in around 5 o'clock this morning. I've been running around ever since. We have crews up north, crews in the Scranton area, trying to get to the priority stuff: trees on structures, trees on cars, things like that."

The brave man up in the bucket, assigned with cutting the tree into pieces during the steady rainfall? That was Robert Tanner's job. He's been doing this since the early 2000s.

"We see how bad it is, then we got to put up ropes so it doesn't hit the house," Tanner said. Then I go up and take all the excess off that I can. Then I cut it in half, the ropes bring it back off the house, don't touch nothing. You got to be careful. It's dangerous, but I live for it."

Tanner says that while being in the bucket is somewhat dangerous, it's also a thrill. He's actually able to control where he goes with a lever inside the bucket.

"We get appreciated all the time," Tanner said. "Especially if we don't do any more damage than what's already done. They love us. That's what we do it for."

Titan Tree Service finished that job up by tarping the roof without any further damage.

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