‘The most important thing is nobody was hurt’

Norm Fiss surveys the partially cleared mess outside Binkley’s Funeral Service and slowly shakes his head.
It is Friday afternoon, four days after two spruces trees crashed to the ground in the early hours of Tuesday.
Fiss, who lives nearby, was asleep when the trees fell, even though there must have been a mighty crash above the incessant roar of winds. A neighbour told him what had happened.
In the immediate aftermath, one tree lay sprawled across the road, while the other lurched over, its roots ripped from the soil. By morning, a section of 1st Avenue between Maple Street and Cypress Street had been closed off.
Despite the destruction to nature, this example of the storm’s wrath could have been far worse – something Fiss is only too aware of.
He is relieved that the building was unscathed, but far more relieved that nobody was hurt.
“The building is secondary,”he said. “The most important thing is nobody was injured.
“The trees could have fallen on a passing vehicle or a pedestrian.”
At the time of writing, Fiss, who runs the funeral service and is acting president of the Chamber of Commerce, was waiting for Andrew Hecker, the multi-skilled public works operator based at the water treatment plant, to complete the job of clearing away the trees.
As the water treatment plant lost power until being hooked up to a generator, Hecker has had his hands full. Nevertheless, by Monday he had tidied up most of the mess, creating space for traffic to move freely through that section of 1st Avenue.
A tree leaning against the building has also been removed.
Fiss is planning to replace the spruce trees and has received a few options by Nola Sanderson, from Kelli Dee Floral.

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