After Hurricane Helene made landfall in late September, disaster response organizations struggled to address all the impacted areas in the Southeast. The storm, which caused billions of dollars of damage and resulted in hundreds of deaths, left a path of indiscriminate wreckage in its wake. A trail of overturned cars, massive mounds of debris, and thousands of tree failures marked its path of destruction.

For many small towns, outside aid arrived solely through the influx of good samaritan volunteers with the right equipment and the desire to help. Before cranes were set up and insurance claims were parsed, these men and women were cutting roadsides clear with chainsaws, moving debris with skid steers, and chipping what they could.

Others brought more specialized machines. Companies based in the South, like Knock on Wood Tree Service, Big Woody’s Tree Service, and Big Dog Tree Service, hauled their SENNEBOGEN 718s to help with the effort. Others, like Warwick Tree Service in Rhode Island and Kravitz Tree Service in New York, committed their SENNEBOGEN crews to spend weeks away from home to help communities like Banner Elk, North Carolina, and Augusta, Georgia. These companies were joined by a dealer network that included Sun Machinery, James River Equipment, and Tractor & Equipment Company. What they found waiting for them were entire mountainside neighborhoods that would never be the same. In many cases, it seemed as if not a single house escaped damage in some form, making the work endless. When homeowners couldn’t afford to pay, the crews completed their jobs regardless and were often given at least a hot meal in return.

In the face of so much devastation, the SENNEBOGEN 718 provided a multipurpose tool capable of removing trees, handling wood off of structures, and processing debris. These machines, however, were only as capable as the support around them. In environments like Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas after Hurricane Helene, this support often came in the form of donations and charity.

The crews working in Banner Elk were fed daily with meals provided by the World Central Kitchen. The 718s in Asheville were surrounded by teams volunteering with Samaritan’s Purse. Unfortunately, the need for relief is not going anywhere. If you would like to help during the next hurricane, flood, or fire, please consider donating to these or other volunteer organizations. Your contribution will be put to use immediately to help the men and women serving the next broken community.

Looking back, SENNEBOGEN is incredibly proud to have been a part of Helene’s cleanup. Looking ahead, we continue to strive to make tree work a safer, more helpful community.