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FirstEnergy triming trees in Poland's circuit areas
By Kalea Hall
poland
Poland residents may notice a tree-cutting company making its way through the area to control the vegetation near the FirstEnergy Ohio Edison circuits.
“We want to ensure that our customers have reduced outage duration and reduced outages,” said David Turner of FirstEnergy.
The company trims vegetation on a four-year cycle.
Village Mayor Tim Sicafuse sat down with Turner and other representatives from the company to discuss the tree cutting. A tree commissioner for the village recommended not just topping off some of the trees, but cutting them down.
“We just wanted to know what their plans were,” Sicafuse said.
After the discussion with the village, the utility company decided to cut down some, Turner said.
“The decision was made working with the arborist to go ahead and have some of the trees [removed] that would never mature in our circuit,” and some of them were some of the trees that were diseased or dead, Turner said. “We identify them, and they are removed.”
Fliers were sent to homeowners affected by the tree-trimming or cutting.
Sicafuse said the village did not receive any formal complaints about the project.
Crews could be found throughout the township and in the village on state Route 170 working on the vegetation.
Trimmed or cut is any vegetation — trees, vines, shrubs, etc. — that “is encroaching on the circuit,” Turner said.
“At the minimum, we need to trim,” Turner said. “Our crews do a great job.”
Nelson Tree Service of Dayton is working in the Poland area. It started working in March in Poland, and crews are on schedule. Other areas including Youngstown, Coitsville and Berlin Center are being attended to by FirstEnergy.
“When we are doing our vegetation management, it is driven to ensure that along that four years, the branches don’t come down along that circuit,” Turner said.