Kinard's Tree Service Still Cleaning Up After Last Year's Hurricanes

Selby Kinard in his first boom truck – delivered by Giuffre Bros.
in just four days

When Selby Kinard retired from Florida Power & Light 10 years ago, he started a tree service "so he'd have something to do," says his wife, Cindy. "He was used to working around wires, and there wasn't a tree service in our area that did that kind of work," she expalins. Their home-based business in Arcadia lies between Sarasota and Ft. Meyers on Florida's gulf coast.

The business grew, and the Kinards knew they wanted to buy another vehicle to add to their fleet of five trucks, which included a dump truck, a bucket truck, a flatbed and two pickup trucks, plus several trailers.

Then came Hurricane Charlie. On August 13, 2004, Charlie swept through South Florida and leveled five counties. Of those five, the Kinards live in one and serve that, plus two adjoining counties.

"It was the mose eerie feeling in the world," Cindy says of the aftermath. "Trees were on the ground everywhere. Some were broken off and some were uprooted, but all of them were down. There was insulation along with shingles, siding, and tin from metal sheds and mobile homes. You couldn't drive down a street, because there were poles down and glass from broken insulators."

The Kinards lost their bucket truck and two pickup trucks in the storm, along with several trailers. That additional vehicle they had talked about became an immediate need. When a man called needing someone to remove a 100-year-old Cyprus that had crushed his 94-year-old mother's house, Cindy recalls, "We know the only way we could get it out is with a crane."

But the phone lines were down, and even the towers for cellular service had taken a hit.

The Kinard's managed to make some calls, and they contacted Giuffre Bros. Cranes, remembering them from a trade show. "We picked out a truck-crane sight-unseen, because they had it in stock at their East Coast dealership. They managed to get the paperwork to us, and then even did all the leg work for us on the financing and insurance."

Ciny Marvels, "They delivered the crane to us four days later, when we were in the middle of another hurricane (Francis, which followed Charlier 2 ½ weeks later). They went way above and beyond the call of duty to take care of us."

"That truck is so versatile," Cindy says, "it is in daily use." It is equipped with a man lift, which is good for trimming trees. The crane is perfect to take care of 'widow-makers' — large branches or parts of trees damaged during a storm, but that remain suspended in the tree. Many are 20-30 feet long and three feet in diameter. "We have to go over the top of the tree to lift those out before they fall or blow down," she says.

Kinard's Tree & Lawn Service was busy before the hurricanes, working for county park and recreation departments, cities and individuals. "Since the storms, we've done nothing but hurricane damage," she says. It will be some time before they know how many more trees will die from the trio of hurricanes that hit Florida that summer.