A Tyrone firm cleared fallen trees for free after Storm Isha

AN Omagh-based woodland service have cleared fallen trees across the county in an effort to help the community recover from Storm Isha last weekend.

In the aftermath of what was some of the worst storm damage he had seen, Ross Jamieson, from RJ Woodland Services, deployed staff to help the local community remove large numbers of fallen trees.

“It’s some of the worst storm damage I have ever seen,” said Ross.

“The last big storm I remember was 1998 and this storm, to me, seems to be as bad, if not slightly worse – certainly for the volume of trees that have come down.”

Having received a great many calls for help, Ross and his squad have had a busy couple of days. He explained how the days following the severe storm unfolded for him and his team as they lent a hand free-of-charge.

“Since Storm Isha on Sunday evening there was quite a lot of damage around the whole country and I just thought it would be good to offer our services to anyone who was in a predicament or suffered a loss,” he continued.

“We worked our way around wherever we were asked to come and help – removing trees and debris.”

The team used a small digger with a grab-on to help them with heavier segments of tree trunk and to speed things up a bit.

“All we did was create access to allow people to get through,” he humbly stated.

The woodland expert ended by relaying the serious impact that the storm has had on local trees.

“The storm has had a serious impact, especially on the trees – which we deal with most. We have seen an awful lot of damage – from houses, garages and power lines being hit to roads being blocked,” added Ross.

In the coming days and weeks, the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) will tidy up the areas which RJ Woodland Services have cleared.