Branch drop-off site closes after record storm cleanup

The City of Brandon has officially closed its emergency branch drop-off site at McHardy Park after residents spent the past week cleaning up from the destructive July 25 straight-line winds that swept through the area.

Public Works Director Rollie Hoeke said the temporary collection site received the largest volume of tree debris he has seen.

“That’s probably the biggest one,” Hoeke said of the massive pile of branches that accumulated during the cleanup effort.

The collection area was filled with limbs and trees brought in by residents, along with debris city crews hauled from boulevards throughout Brandon.

Hoeke noted that not all of the material came from storm-damaged trees.

“There’s people that were cutting trees and taking trees down that weren’t damaged, but bringing them down, too,” he said.

By the time the site closed, the branch pile stretched roughly the length of a football field and stood an estimated 15 to 20 feet tall.

“It definitely would fill a football field,” Hoeke confirmed.

The city has contacted its contractor to grind and remove the branch and trees. Hoeke said the contractor will chip the material and haul it away once crews are available.

Although the emergency drop-off site has closed, Hoeke reminds residents that the city’s regular branch drop-off event will return in October.

He also asks residents to avoid disposing of items other than tree branches after city crews found bicycles, scooters and other debris mixed into the pile.

“I don’t want to say they shouldn’t be bringing bicycles and scooters and stuff like that, like they were. I’m not going pick through them when I’m trying to push the piles up, so I just pulled them out of there and put them off to the side,” he said.