We had a chance to catch up with our equipment manager, Jason Swoveland, who oversees our entire fleet of vehicles, including bucket trucks, trailers, and equipment trucks, and ask him about some of the equipment that helps Townsend Tree Service provide tree trimming and vegetation management to its customers.

"What's the coolest piece of equipment we've got," we asked.

"We've got some neat stuff," Jason said, like a kid with all the cool toys at Christmas. "I really like our backyard buckets." He went on to describe how the backyard buckets operate.

A typical remote backyard bucket can raise up to 58 feet high, and can squeeze into a 36 inch gate, the typical size of most backyard gates. This lets a tree trimming crew get into backyards and some easements it would otherwise be difficult to access.

"You couldn't get a regular bucket truck in there without tearing a fence down and then rebuilding it, so the remote backyard bucket is our best choice."

But best of all, the backyard bucket is remote controlled. One operator is riding inside the bucket, while the other is standing in the yard, operating the bucket like a remote control car, driving it around and raising the remote bucket. The person in the bucket can sometimes drive themselves and control the bucket themselves, but it's safer if we have an operator on the ground doing the operations. And since we practice <strong>#SafetyFirst</strong>, that's how we prefer to do it.

Additionally, the backyard buckets let us take more care in our work so the home owners are pleased with the results.

"We like to use the backyard buckets when we want to hand cut branches, rather than buzz cutting them. Hand cutting always looks nicer than using the remote for buzz cutting," said Jason. "We do that because it makes the customers happy. If we have to go fast through a right-of-way out in the woods, no one really worries about what the trees look like, so we use the buzz cutter. But home owners care about their trees, so we prefer the backyard buckets and hand cutting in those cases."

Jason said that Townsend's backyard remote trimmers are usually made by Jaraff, while our backyard bucket lifts are made by Altec, Terex, and Versalift. We use a variety of manufacturers' equipment, and Jason is there to help ensure we're using the right equipment for the right customers in the right place.