A Newcastle man who supervises Asplundh operations in Maine led more than 100 employees south to help New York utilities restore power after Hurricane Sandy.
Tom Kostenbader is the region 44 supervisor for Asplundh Tree Expert Co.
Locals probably know the Pennsylvania-based firm for its big, orange trucks that trim trees around utility lines and handle post-storm clean-up for Central Maine Power Company.
Asplundh began shifting crews to New York Oct. 29, the day the storm hit New Jersey and New York, with more crews following the night of Oct. 30, after addressing the most severe damage in their home state.
Eventually, 52 of the company’s trademark bucket trucks and 115 employees, including two- and three-man crews and a few general foremen to oversee the work, were on the ground in New York.
The majority of the crews, 36, went to Brewster, N.Y., with others going to Liberty, Long Island and Rhode Island.
For the next two weeks, the crews, including several crew members from Lincoln County and the surrounding area, worked 16- and 17-hour days, seven days a week, clearing trees in order to open roads, replace poles and restore power in the storm-ravaged state.
The crews battled heavy traffic between the poles and trees, struggling to navigate Long Island, where many roads do not allow heavy trucks and the traffic signals did not work due to the lack of electricity.
After the long days, the Long Island crews crowded into Federal Emergency Management Agency semitrailers, 36 bunks to a trailer, for a short night’s rest.
Elsewhere, crews slept on cots in a gym and ate meals in mess tents.
“You get used to it,” Kostenbader said of the humble accommodations. “I’ve done it for years.”
Kostenbader’s career with Asplundh began 30 years ago, in 1982, as a “groundman” on a crew. Later, “I was a climber for quite a few years,” he said.
He left Asplundh for six years and started his own tree business before returning to Asplundh and earning promotions to general foreman in 1998 and to his current position in 2002. Region 44, the area he supervises, encompasses virtually all of Maine, he said.
Throughout his career, Kostenbader has frequently responded to storms out of state. He is a veteran of Hurricane Katrina, as well as several lesser hurricanes and storms in Alabama, Florida, Massachusetts, New York and Nova Scotia, Canada.
Now, Kostenbader plays more of a support role. He stayed in Maine for the first days after many of his crews left, in order to supervise the 17 crews still in the state. The Sunday after the storm, he departed before dawn for a whirlwind, 24-hour round trip to collect paperwork and deliver supplies in Brewster, Liberty and Long Island.
Five days later, he made another marathon drive to Long Island to drop off a foreman and take another foreman, whose wife was about to give birth to their baby, back to Maine. He returned to New York a third time Nov. 12, staying until the final day for the Maine crews, Nov. 14.
The back-and-forth is nothing new for Kostenbader, who estimates he racks up 50,000-60,000 miles per year for his work travels. “I put a pile of miles on,” he said.
Kostenbader’s wife, Karen Kostenbader, also works for Asplundh as a secretary, and she, too, contributed to the effort, fielding calls from the crews on the ground in New York and helping her husband keep the operation running smoothly.
“It’s all a matter of everyone working together to make things go smooth,” Tom Kostenbader said.
The New York residents the crews encountered were friendly and grateful for the help, despite the stresses of the storm, he said.
Many of the foremen have weathered similar long, grueling, post-storm efforts. “It’s a little bit more of an adventure to guys who have never been on those trips, but after they do it a couple times, they get used to it and learn the ins and outs,” he said.
“That’s what makes it a lot more easy, when you have good crews and everybody works together,” he said.
