Greater Sudbury Hydro contractors are beginning annual tree trimming this week, starting south of Countryside Arena and along Long Lake Road toward Sunnyside Road.
The utility takes a proactive approach to vegetation control to reduce the incidence of power outages caused by trees and branches falling on power lines during severe wind and weather events.
“It takes about four years for us to work through our entire system,” said Mark Van De Rydt, engineering supervisor for Greater Sudbury Hydro.
“We have approximately 1,000 kilometres of power lines in our system, so we divide our service territory into sections, and focus on a couple of sections each year. We try to wait until most of the leaves have fallen before we start. Of course we do some spot trimming through the year as well, when necessary.”
While there are still a lot of unfallen leaves right now, the trimmers will be starting in an area in the South End of the city that has a lot of underbrush that needs attention.
Once the leaves fall, the contractors will move to an area between Science North and Countryside Arena, including Laurentian University and the Lo-Ellen area.
GSH expects to work on areas in the Donovan and downtown early in 2017.
“We need three metres (10 feet) of clear space around primary power lines for the safety of everyone,” said Van De Rydt.
“Trees or branches that touch a power line can become energized, and that can be harmful, even fatal, to both people and pets.”
