Chainsaw crews help in Hortonville

HORTONVILLE - The sound of a powerful chainsaw is music to Will Van Moorlegham's ears.

"It's a huge mess,” he said. “To do it myself would take weeks and weeks."

Tuesday's storms ripped through his wooded property, leaving its mark with fallen trees. Chainsaw operators from the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Team descended upon Hortonville, looking to help any way they can.

"We're all volunteers,” said Brad O’Grosky. “We don't get paid. We don't accept pay."

Besides just saving Van Morrlegham trouble, they're, "at the very least, probably saving me thousands of dollars from a tree company and they're doing it out of the goodness of their heart," said Van Moorlegham.

It only took about 90 seconds for all the trees to fall down, snapping many of them in half. Overall, more than 40 trees, but amazing, none of them fell on Will Van Moorlegham's house.

"Some of the trees were two feet in diameter, but not one hit the house,” said Van Moorlegham. “They're all just laid out like dominoes on either side of the house."

Unlike many who just pick up a chainsaw and hit the wood, these crews are trained in safety. They wear Kevlar chaps, and they watch over each other, but it's still not an easy job.

"This is a challenging job and we have to be careful with the trees being twisted by the storm as well," said O’Grosky.

What exactly does the chain saw team get out of it?

"Satisfaction,” said O’Grosky. “Satisfaction and just the opportunity to help people."