For the second time in less than three months, seniors who live in a Morton Grove retirement complex were left without electricity for hours because of a tree taking down power lines in the nearby Cook County forest preserve, they said.
The latest power outage, seniors said, occurred Jan. 16 during the day near Lincoln Avenue. Like the incident months earlier, the disruption meant that elevators couldn’t operate and there was no heat since the gas heating system is controlled by an electric component, they said.
“It was difficult for a lot of people, and for this to happen a second time was really concerning,” said resident Ellie Davis.
Homestead at Morton Grove, an independent senior living facility located at 6400 Lincoln Avenue, sits across the street from the St. Paul Woods where the power lines are located. Some of the trees inside the woods appear to be old and rotting, some are marked for takedown by the county.
A spokesperson for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County said different factors were responsible for the two incidents.
The first outage, which occurred Oct. 29, was the result of a tree falling naturally, said Lambrini Lukidis, communications director for the county forest preserve district.
Lukidis said the incident last week occurred when crews were working in the area, trying to clear out some of the dead trees.
“We were removing a dead tree, and as we were taking steps to do that,” she said, “we learned the entire tree was hollowed out. Unfortunately, it didn’t feel hollowed out and there was no way to really know that until the work was being done.”
As a result, she said, an old oak tree turned out to be so light that workers couldn’t control the direction in which it fell.
A few days later, the downed lines, which were replaced, could still be seen on the ground as well as the old oak tree’s large stump .
According to Morton Grove Public Works Director Andy DeMonte, the village contacted the county following the Oct. 29 power outage.
“No one wanted to see this happen again so that’s why the forest preserve [workers] are in there now cleaning out anything they think is dangerous,” DeMonte said. “They’ve already marked other trees they want cut out. They hired a company to go out and remove them.”
County officials say the crew was there last week in response to Morton Grove. Unfortunately, a tree that got away from the crew caused another outage, they said.
A handful of seniors who gathered a few days later said they believe the problem was avoidable.
“If the tree was better secured,” said resident Yvonne Franz, “this wouldn’t have happened.”
More Top Picks Best Sleep Earbuds
Compounding their frustration, they said, was that the power went out at about 8:30 a.m. and wasn’t restored until 5:30 p.m. Many seniors found places to go during the day because it soon became cold inside their apartments, they said.
“You can’t go without heat,” said resident Ed Bertram.
The weather was warmer during the October outage, but the power went out from 4:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m., creating a different problem because of darkness, the seniors said.
“It was very difficult because we have a lot of people on walkers,” Davis said. “Some people have caregivers, but it was difficult. We have people in wheelchairs.”
Homestead has four floors and contains 82 units, according to the seniors. Resident Pat Donahoe said some corridors are longer than others.
“Depending on where your unit is, it really becomes a problem,” she said.
Resident Hope Hornstein said she had contacted the county about the possibility of the first tree falling before it even toppled over.
“The tree was an eyesore,” Hornstein said. “It was totally dead and stripped of bark. I asked if something could be done about it and they said ‘no’ because it was not in danger of falling and hitting lines.”
Hornstein said she also asked crews working in the forest preserves from time to time about removing the tree, but they never did so.
Lukidis said that if a tree is not in the way of any path or posing a danger, the county tries to preserve it.
The seniors said they are not only concerned about a repeat outage but about safety as well. The nearby woods containing tall old trees sit close to the street, and a path inside the woods is used by pedestrians. Five trees near electric wires on Lincoln Avenue appear to be marked by the county for removal.
“Residents hope and pray that no one will be injured by another falling tree, or spend more days in the cold,” Davis said. “We hope and pray that Cook County sees how these two falling trees could have killed passing drivers or pedestrians.”
Lukidis said the county continues to address the problem by removing trees that pose a threat. She said there is “much less chance” this will happen again.
“There are several ways of taking trees down,” she said. “If there are others that are that tall, we could use other techniques. Under our direction, the contractors will try to avoid that kind of scenario in the future.”
@SKReview_Mike