Crews Arrive To Haul Off Debris

The state fire marshal says he's worried broken branches all over the state that are the perfect fuel for wildfires. The city of Tulsa has hired an Alabama company to haul away its tree debris. The News On 6's Emory Bryan reports they've brought in some unusual equipment to do the job.

The trucks are rolling now in small numbers near 49th and Utica, but on Tuesday at least 50 of them will be out in Tulsa neighborhoods. It's the biggest step yet towards clearing away the damage from the ice storm. Dan Crossland's desk is covered with the contracts that spell out how Tulsa's storm debris will be cleaned up.

"This is the first time we've ever had so much debris that we've had to hire an outside contractor. You know, we've always picked it up ourselves," said Dan Crossland with the City of Tulsa.

But this time, with huge trees on many curbs and limbs stacked high in every neighborhood, the city needed outside help with specialized equipment. These trucks can haul 100 cubic yards in a single trip, but even at that size, the city figures they'll make 20,000 trips to haul away the limbs.

The city has been divided into three debris cleanup zones. One is north of 11th Street. The central zone is down to 51st Street. And, the south zone is south of there. The city plans to haul the debris to four dump sites, where it will be ground into mulch.

There are so many trees down in Tulsa; the city says it will take until the middle of March to clean it up. The big trucks will make three trips down each street, with a weekend between each pass to give homeowners time to move more limbs out to the curb.

Before they started, an inspector measured each truck to certify how much it can hold. The trucks will cover Tulsa's streets, working in one mile squares for the next two months.

"People are going see a lot of activity all over town and it's going to be all over town," said Dan Crossland with the City of Tulsa.

The city plans to put maps out showing where and when the crews will be working. The maps will change often, so they'll be on the website for constant updating. The crews will work seven days, daylight to dark, until the job is done.