Chief Meteorologist Ben Jones shares his story on his backyard injury and how to safely clear storm debris
"I can promise I have paid more in medical bills and time lost doing what I want to do than I ever would have to pay a professional to clear those trees." Jones said
"What could go wrong?"
Severe weather takes down trees and debris, and you might be tempted to clear it on your own.
Take it from me, whether it's a tree damaged in a storm or just one you no longer want in your backyard, it's not just tricky, but it can be deadly.
I know what you're thinking. I've got some trees in the backyard, I've done this many times, right? So what's the big deal?
Well, you can see some damage up here with a tree, then you see something as simple as this mimosa tree that's leaning.
What could go wrong?
It's all going to fall where I want it to. Well, there's a lot of tension in those things, and right in my backyard, I went from this is nothing to this in a matter of seconds.
I wasn't even sure what had happened, but the next thing I knew, I was in the emergency room.
"When you first came, and I saw you, my biggest concern was a chest or thoracic injury," Dr. Dennis Holder said. "A collapsed lung, hemothorax, which is bleeding in the chest, are all life-threatening injuries."
Holder and the team at Navicent took great care of me.
It turns out I had cuts, bruises, a shattered shoulder blade and a nasty bump on the head. But, as painful as it was, I was lucky.
"If it moved over a few inches, it could have hit the spine, and you're talking paralysis or the head - direct head injury," Holder said
Shawn Montgomery has 40 years of tree-cutting experience.
"If it had been a bigger tree, you'd be in more than that, you could be in a big box," Montgomery said. "There's a lot of things about cutting a tree that the average person just doesn't know."
"You're lucky it didn't take your head."
I showed him the pieces of the tree that hit me, and he said I was lucky.
"The weight made this tree split in half or break as it did with you - it's called the barber chair. The problem is, you're right there, it splits up, you're lucky it didn't take your head," Montgomery said.
The barber chair sounds welcoming, but it's not.
It happens like this: you can be cutting at an angle expecting the tree to fall over, and part of it does, but then the top half splits up and comes back down with sling-shot force.
"It also has the momentum and the speed it's moving. You know, that's several pounds, you know. It's like getting hit with a baseball bat." Montgomery said.
He says trees can look like they'll topple right to the ground. But they're living, breathing organisms carrying thousands of pounds of tension that can be unpredictable when they come down.
"The weight is really putting a lot of pressure down there, and the minute you saw into the backside and relieve that pressure, crazy things happen," Montgomery said.
Montgomery and Doctor Holder say trying to save time and money could lead to an expensive injury or worse.
"Most people think I'm not going to call an expert 'cause they're expensive.' Well, wait til you get a bill for surgery and broken bones and a hospital stay and see how expensive it is," Holder said.
Montgomery echoed those sentiments.
"If you're not sure, for God's sake, call your tree guy, whoever you need, if you don't have a guy, I'll be glad to be the guy. Don't take those chances," Montgomery said.
I can promise I have paid more in medical bills and time lost doing what I want to do than I ever would have to pay a professional to clear those trees.