Just over a week since Hurricane Fabian ripped across the islands of Bermuda, UK tree specialists and training organisation Treevolution are crossing the Atlantic to help with the massive clear up operation.

On 5 September the British territory of Bermuda took a direct hit from Hurricane Fabian – a Category 3 hurricane that lashed its islands for more than five hours. The most severe hurricane to hit Bermuda in over fifty years, Fabian’s 120 mph winds left a trail of destruction, and more than a week later many of the islands remain without water or power. With the massive clear-up operation underway, Treevolution have been called on to help out, and are sending a team of specialist arborists to help clear the hundreds of trees that felled power lines and blocked roads.

Some 3,000 miles from Bermuda, based in the beautiful mountains of Snowdonia National Park, Treevolution is one of this country’s leading arboricultural services companies – providing specialist training and advice to the private and professional arboricultural sector. Involved with the Bermuda Government for some years now, Treevolution have been to the islands on two previous occasions, training teams from the local Parks Department on chainsaw and tree climbing techniques. The call to help following Hurricane Fabian will see a working reunion with some of those original trainees as the Treevolution team lead clearance operations after the storm.

Preparing to leave for Bermuda this week, Treevolution’s co-founder and training officer, Liam McKeown, commented: “The local teams in Bermuda are fully trained and certificated in basic chainsaw and tree climbing techniques, but dealing with windfall and storm damaged trees requires more specialist knowledge and expertise than they currently have. We are in a fairly unique position, being able to help not only with the actual clear up operations, but also in the further development of their professional skills, giving qualified and certified training and assessment.”

Commenting on the situation in Bermuda, Liam said : “I’m not too sure what we’ll find when we get there, but I fear the islands will look very different from previous visits. We can only fly in during the day for example, because the airport’s runway lights aren’t working, and thousands of homes remain without power. The news pictures look devastating and our first priority will be to help clear trees off power lines and roads.”

Storms and hurricanes are not something the Treevolution team haven’t handled before. Many of the team flying out to Bermuda were involved in the clear-up from Britain’s 1987 hurricane, and Treevolution co-founder Chris White worked on the 3-month clear-up following the Boxing Day storms in Scotland 1998/99, and also in Paris on storm damaged trees after high winds in 2000. Sponsored by STIHL – the world’s leading manufacturer of chainsaws, Treevolution is one of the country’s leading and most respected arboricultural training organisations. Founded in 1988 by Liam McKeown, Jon Hartill (a former European Tree Climbing Champion), and Chris White - who heads the company’s operation in Scotland, the growing company offers practical no-nonsense training and advice to all sectors of the industry and is regularly consulted on matters involving safety and legislation.

Liam McKeown leaves for Bermuda on Thursday 18th September, and will spend an initial week planning the work to be done before being joined by five more members of the Treevolution team. The clear-up and training project is expected to last for around three months and will be run by a series of Treevolution’s professional trainers and arborists.