BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. — It's been a long six weeks on the road for the crew from Squirrels Tree Care out of Rock Island. The company left the Quad Cities on Sept. 17, loaded down with supplies and donations, and has spent the last month and a half helping storm victims.
"I think it's one of those things where you could stay as long as you wanted to, and the work would still be here," Jon Steiniger, owner of Squirrels Tree Care, said.
Steiniger, who was a 2022 WQAD Jefferson Award nominee, has a long history of heading into disaster zones to help with recovery efforts. He's also been known for his work around the Quad Cities, helping those in need after powerful storms roll through, including a Davenport father who couldn't afford to remove a dangerous tree damaged by summer 2024 storms.
His company's cranes are specially equipped to remove extremely heavy objects from small, tight spots that might not be reachable by other equipment. It allows Steiniger and his team to remove trees off of buildings and houses without sending someone underneath to cut through the wood.
"Really just minimizes the risk and the potential dangers for somebody to get hurt," Steiniger said.
So when the call came in from some of his contractor friends in North Carolina and Florida, Steiniger knew he and his team needed to head South.
With the help of Two Brothers Tree Care out of Geneseo, Squirrels loaded up two truckloads of water bottles, food, paper towels, toilet paper and other essentials.
From there, the crew drove to Black Mountain, North Carolina, a place hit hard by Helene's flooding. Steiniger said the residents didn't have fresh water, the roads to their houses were washed away and several people were evacuated by helicopter.
"The roads were washed out. You could hear the water rushing under the roads," Steiniger said. "It was really, really difficult to see the amount of devastation there."
From there, they traveled to Tampa, Florida, which was battered by wind, rain and storm surge.
"The homes were flooded and all their belongings are just gone. They don't have their clothing anymore, their beds or their couches, their appliances, any of that stuff," Steiniger said.
While many teams rushed into the disaster zone after the hurricanes hit, Squirrels Tree Care says not everyone was qualified or skilled enough to assist. Proper certification, credentials and safety training are imperative for anyone working with dangerous machinery and removing fallen trees and power lines from homes.
"There's always a lot of people that rush in to help, and their intentions may be good, but in these disaster senses, you really gotta have the best of the best and the right people in the right places, otherwise a tragedy can happen," Steiniger said.
Squirrels isn't sure when they'll pack up and head back to the Quad Cities. After six weeks on the road, working 12-15 hour days, seven days a week, Steiniger says his whole team is exhausted.
Most of the work they've done is contracted, meaning the crew is paid. However, there have been several jobs that Squirrels Tree Care says they've done for free, to help those without insurance or means of rebuilding.
"We're out here doing the jobs that the people who rushed in to help in the beginning may not have been equipped or qualified to do. We're still hanging around. We're in the area still," Steiniger said.
The hope is to start the return trip to the Quad Cities around Nov. 1.
Tune into The Current from 4 to 5 p.m. on weekdays to catch live interviews impacting you, your family and your hometown as well as all of the biggest headlines of the day.