The giant chainsaw suspended from a helicopter that trimmed trees along power lines in heavily forested areas near Lewis Run in 2024 will return to the area this year.

Mid-Atlantic Interstate Transmission Co., a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., will once again use a helicopter equipped with an aerial saw to trim trees along more than 400 miles of high-voltage power lines in Pennsylvania Electric Co.’s Penelec service area.

Aerial Saw Tree Trimming will address hard-to-access corridors across 16 counties in northern and central Pennsylvania through the end of 2025. Able to cover more area in a single day than a ground crew might complete in a week, the aerial saw will trim along transmission lines located in McKean, Elk, Potter, Bedford, Blair, Bradford, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Somerset, Tioga, Warren, Westmoreland and Wyoming counties.

Officials at Penelec, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., explained that maintaining proper clearances around transmission lines and electrical equipment can help prevent or minimize the impact of tree-related power outages, especially those associated with severe weather during summer and winter storm seasons. Further, clearing incompatible vegetation under power lines provides easier access for company personnel to inspect and maintain lines and make repairs more quickly when an outage occurs.

John Hawkins, FirstEnergy president in Pennsylvania, sa “Keeping our high-voltage power lines clear of potential interference from trees is an important part of maintaining system reliability. The aerial saw is a specialized tool that allows us to cover hundreds of transmission miles every year in a safe, efficient manner.”

The saw further eliminates risk of injury to workers using bucket trucks or climbing trees to cut limbs near high-voltage equipment.

Company representatives said the boom suspended beneath the helicopter is equipped with multiple 24-inch rotary blades that cleanly cuts tree limbs 8 to 10 inches in diameter. The lopped limbs fall straight to the ground, propelled by air blasts from the helicopter rotors. Ground crews move limbs that have fallen on roadways, yards, agricultural fields or streams into adjacent wooded areas. Motorists may be flagged to stop if the helicopter saw is working nearby.

Communicating with local airport personnel when operating within their air space, the helicopter pilot will maneuver the saw above and alongside power lines, and may circle around to perform additional trimming.

Windy or foggy conditions will ground operations, videos of which are viewable on YouTube.

The work is part of FirstEnergy’s $51 million vegetation management program to trim trees along more than 4,100 miles of power lines in the Penelec area this year, company officials report.

FirstEnergy’s electric distribution companies form one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company’s transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.