My Story: Getting trees off roofs and feeling community support

I am OK. And due to the support of our amazing community here on planet Earth pouring love and resources into Asheville when our infrastructure — and many homes, lives and businesses were devastated and destroyed — I can say that in all this chaos, I am better than OK.

I work for Smart Feller Tree Works LLC and was in Hickory for the Great N.C. Tree Conference Wednesday-Friday when the storm hit. I have been answering the phone and coordinating aid to get trees off roofs since Thursday, Sept. 26.

Power went out at the hotel. Hickory became a staging ground for emergency aid. I tried to drive home to Candler and got as far as Marion on Friday, Sept. 27, when I had to turn around because of flooding.

All the services and all the communication, water and power were disrupted, and I wasn’t getting messages from my partner, family or crew back home. Sunday, Sept. 30, my partner’s text came through: “Go to Greensboro,” where we have family.

Our 2020 Hyundai Elantra’s car battery died. Three incredible good Samaritans hooked up their jumper cables three times to get me to an AutoZone for a new battery. That’s a story all on its own.

Eventually, I ended up in High Point with family, where I was able to keep answering the phone and coordinating aid and supplies into Asheville for our crew and clients to get trees off houses.

I reached out to TCIA (Tree Care Industry Association), and the people there suggested using the Facebook group of Emergency Tree Responders to get supplies. Clayton from Georgia, a Bandit chipper technician, drove to my house in Candler with fuel and chain saw fuel mix for our saws on Sept. 30.

More folks banded together to provide aid. Friends and families and the community sent funds, and we turned those funds into personal protective equipment, groceries and drinking water for our neighbors, crew and community.

I got lists of missing folks or people who were in need of things, and I called folks or clients who lived near where those people should be and we located them and got word to those who were worried.

I worked from High Point and kept answering phones and coordinating help — finding out which tree crews with cranes were where and getting that information to anyone with a tree on their house. Smart Feller Tree Works LLC is six mighty humans, two chip trucks and one knuckle boom crane — our capacity is limited to what we can do with the resources we have at the moment.

The lack of viable internet service that was needed to keep coordinating aid and supplies kept me from returning home to my family. I missed my partner, Ed Leykam; our best friends, Luke and Giovanni; and our three cats: Captain Loki Marvin, Easter Marie Briar and Freyja Elizabeth Bramble.

Ira Friedrichs, owner of Smart Feller Tree Works LLC, reported that internet was restored at our office, and I could return to Asheville to continue coordinating and communicating.

I returned on Sunday, Oct. 6. We continue to get trees off roofs. Our crew hasn’t had one injury in this catastrophic work environment. We are working safely and efficiently. I tell folks that we do not have any timeline, but that they can call me any time for updates and that I will update them as I can.

It is incredible to watch all hands on deck in Asheville rebuilding our infrastructure.

At our home in Candler and at the office in Smith Mill Works, we adapted quickly (no running water through the pipes to date). We use our dehumidifier to pull the water out of the air, and we use that water to fill our toilet tanks.

We boil the potable water we have for one minute in the morning and fill a bowl with a washcloth in it with that water. Let that water cool enough not to burn ourselves and do a hot-towel scrub in the morning and before bed.

Ed had once said I had too much mouthwash (I like the Eco-Dent mint) — but lo and behold, my supply of mouthwash is coming in handy for brushing our teeth.

Loki, Easter, and Freyja have adjusted to eating off paper plates. I feed them Weruva canned food (I like to call it “potted meat”), and our Chewy order arrived Oct. 7. So they really haven’t noticed any differences.

Oh, and I picked up the ukulele that my mother gifted me some four years ago, and I tuned it and can play some songs with C and F chords.

My family and community are keeping me safe and sound. So many have lost so much. We are rebuilding, and we will recover. Out of destruction comes creation.

A shoutout to everyone at Smart Feller Tree Works LLC, along with Preservation Arborists and Crown, Root & Soil.

And a note to the humans on Earth: Every arborist in Asheville is working together to safely get trees off houses. Folks are coming in from out of town. Do not despair. We will get through this. Nature will heal. Trees will grow again. Remember, this area was logged not more than 200 years ago.

— Gerlinde Gentzke
Candler

Gerlinde Gentzke works in the field, in the trees and on the phones as a certified arborist and operations administrator with Smart Feller Tree Works LLC.