Day 2: MBTS

Today was a long day of work. I had to be at the shop at 6:45 because Kevin, Linus, Steve were at the firehouse until 7:30. When I got there, I was the only person there. I had to start all the trucks and chipper to warm them up, and then fueled all the saws so that they would be ready to go. I also took the initiative, and started on the parts of the pre-trip inspection in which I learned the day before. When the three of them got down to the shop, we were pretty much ready to take off. Kevin explained to me how huge it was for me to be able to get down to the shop early to warm up the trucks and fuel the saws. He then explained to me their schedule at the firehouse. Him and Steve work the same shift, and Linus works a different shift because two family members cant work the same shift for safety reasons. They work two-day shifts from 7:30 am until 5:30pm, then two night shifts from 5:30pm until 7:30am, then have four straight days off. Last night they were at the firehouse, and tonight they had to be back there too, so there is no time to waste during the day getting jobs done because we are on a strict timetable. With me getting to the shop early to get everything going, it saved about a half hour of wasted time and Kevin and Linus are very appreciative of that. Today, we were local, right in Danvers, Ma, which is awesome for saving fuel after I saw the fuel bill after filling the trucks yesterday. I couldn’t believe it! We started off by removing a large Maple tree from a backyard. This was the worst of the two jobs we did today. We were not able to use the bucket truck, so Linus had to climb the tree. From the ground, I lumped brush from the back of the house to the front where the chipper was and also watched carefully how Linus made his way up the tree. After watching Linus today, I can't wait to learn how to climb. The second job we did was a piece of cake compared to the first job. We had to fall five huge pine trees, probably about 70ft each, then one dead Oak tree. The best part about this job was that we did not have to chip any of the brush, we left it all where it landed in this open field. When all the trees were on the ground, the saws started. Kevin give me a small STHIL saw, which I was not expecting, which is what they use when they climb, and told me to start cutting. I started cutting everything up small, or as the guys call it, "bucking it up." We didn’t get back to the shop for the day until around 5. Kevin and Steve had to leave the job early so they could get ready to go back to the firehouse tonight. Linus and I stayed there cutting. I am not sure what is in store for tomorrow, but I will be back down at the shop again early to get a jump-start on things. Above is a picture of Linus climbing the Maple tree on the first job.