Groveland Twp.- A contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to clean up after hurricanes has landed a local business in a rather distinguished place in a city’s history.
Bedrock Express, 1290 N. M-15, with eight locations statewide specializes in logging, excavating and landscaping supplies. The equipment could also be used to clean up following natural disasters.
With a huge fleet of heavy trucking and excavating equipment Bedrock Express was ideal to respond when category four Hurricane Charley came ashore on the southwest coast of Florida on Aug. 13, 2004. Similarly, when category four Hurricane Ivan raced ashore near Gulf Shores, Ala. on Sept. 16, 2004 Bedrock Express arrived a few days later.
So when category three Hurricane Wilma made landfall on Oct. 24, 2005 at Cape Romano, Fla. approximately 20 miles south of Naples, Fla., Bedrock Express, with about 20 workers and 15 pieces of heavy equipment once again arrived to clean up the millions of tons of trees and brush scattered about the area.
While cleaning up after three powerful hurricanes may become rather mundane to the hundreds of workers at Bedrock Express, at least one ravaged city has expressed their gratitude in a rather unique way.
After witnessing Bedrock Express workers collecting mountains of debris from the city streets of his city ‘Mayor Bill Barnett had an idea.
‘My wife, Chris, and I like to send out unique holiday cards,? said Barnett, in a letter to The Citizen.
‘This year after Wilma, we were in a bit of a quandary about what we would do for our holiday card. Last Sunday we were driving in our daughter’s neighborhood and we saw a crew cleaning up an enormous amount of debris. We stopped and asked them if it would be possible to take our holiday card picture with them as we were so thankful for the great job that they were doing. They were extremely gracious and as you can see by the card, they were more than happy to be a part of our holiday card.?
Barry Bass, President of Bedrock Express was rather humbled by the gesture.
‘It’s a nice thing to do,? said Bass. The people of Naples would bring us out lunch and drinks as we worked down the street. They were very appreciative of us being there. There was some structural damage to the city when we arrived on Oct. 26 but lots of brush and trees all over the roads.?
According to FEMA, Bedrock Express worked with about 200 other crews from all over the country to move an estimated 2 million yards of debris in the Naples area.
‘We moved anywhere from 50,000 to 75,000 cubic yards of brush in about 80 days,? said Bass, with a crew that worked seven days per week, 18 hours each day.
The Bedrock Express crew will all fly home for Christmas. However, several will return after the holiday to complete the cleanup. They are expected to be done sometime in late January.
Bass thanked Charlie Abraham, a former Ortonville resident who is a sewer contactor in Naples and job superintendent James Ashby for their extra efforts in helping the project move forward.