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Hurricane Helene Cleanup

BTB visits Chase Fox in the mountains of western North Carolina to see the Tigercat LS857 working in a complex storm cleanup application with seriously steep terrain.

— Jorge Victoria

Chase Fox in front of LS857 shovel logger
I visited Chase Fox, owner of Fox Logging & Grading, to see the first Tigercat LS857 shovel logger operating in the Eastern US. Chase established his logging company in 2016 in Burnsville, North Carolina. Although Fox Logging also provides grading services, the company is predominantly engaged in contract logging. Chase doesn’t come from a lineage of loggers. It was a true passion for the trade that brought him in, and like many loggers across America, his beginnings in the industry were humble: manual felling with a chainsaw and skidding with a bulldozer. “My father did not want me to log. He said it was too dangerous. I think I was fifteen when I started selling firewood. And then I went from buying wood to logging my wood. So it was just a progressive thing for me over the years,” Chase recalls. Today, the company has a fully mechanized operation with eight employees.

Chase always wanted to own a Tigercat, but the opportunity didn’t come until Hurricane Helene smashed into North Carolina in 2024 and he won a contract to clean up a residential area in a mountain setting after the storm. Helene made landfall in late September 2024, causing widespread damage and fatalities. In western North Carolina, up to twenty inches of rain fell in a 48-hour period with some counties recording as much as 30 inches, triggering catastrophic flooding. Yancey County, where Chase lives and operates, was heavily affected. Estimates place the economic impact of Helene at $200 billion, potentially making it the costliest storm in US history.  “I always knew that I wanted to go to Tigercat, but it's a big step. Then we got Helene, and we had all this blowdown in western North Carolina. That's the reason we went to Tigercat, to remove this timber off steep slopes,” says Chase. “There was no other way to go in and work this downed timber in a safe manner.”
The unique profile of the LS857 provides increased leveling capability
The unique profile of the LS857 provides increased leveling capability and improved cable management for winch assisted operations. The machine is paired with a 5195 directional felling saw, making the package versatile for felling, shovel logging, bunching, stacking and sorting.
In October 2024, shortly after the hurricane, Fox Logging & Grading was contracted to perform storm cleanup by Mountain Air, a private gated community nestled at 5,000 feet (1 520 m) in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Burnsville, North Carolina. Mountain Air is a private country club community comprised of more than 400 residences, a golf course, nature trails, a restaurant, a network of paved roads and even a private runway. Due to the residential nature, size and complexity of the project, Chase partnered with A&B Construction, owned by Chase’s cousin, Avery Austin. The contract entails the removal of all the blowdown, as well as creating water bars for drainage and applying mulch on the slopes. “We came to Mountain Air and started fixing the roads and getting the utilities back on. Then the POA [Property Owners Association] came to us and asked how we were going to fix the blowdown on the steep slopes. I told them the solution was a Tigercat,” Chase explains.

Before Chase purchased the LS857, he visited a steep slope winch assisted logging operation in Oregon to see equipment working on similarly graded slopes as those encountered in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Chase observed that the winch assisted Tigercat LS855E experienced interference as the chain contacted the counterweight area of the machine when it was operating on steeper grades. As a result, he opted for the new LS857. Its unique sloping tail design provides clearance for the tracks and winch assist chains and allows for a steeper leveling angle. “I knew what I was going to be doing, so that's the reason I went with the 857,” says Chase. “I've not hit the chain once.”

Chase explains that before the hurricane came to Yancey County, it rained continuously for three days. The soil was already saturated, which made the ground loose, and so when the storm came with heavy rain and strong winds, the trees were uprooted. “You don't see many broken trees. You see all uprooted trees. We have to cut the tree off at the root mass but the root masses are still laying there.” To eliminate an obvious hazard and improve the aesthetics, Mountain Air specified the removal of the root masses as well.

Then the POA came to us and asked how we were going to fix the blowdown on the steep slopes. I told them the solution was a Tigercat.


— Chase Fox

Logging would not normally be an option on the Mountain Air property, but according to Chase, the community lost about 40% of its standing timber on the 1,300 acre (525 ha) property. Chase estimates over half of the total area will need to be cleaned up. He anticipates it will take him another year to fully complete the project. “This is a one-of-a-kind job. There is nowhere else that you're half logging, half storm cleanup, and every five feet is an asphalt road or a million-dollar home. We're just finding little avenues to get to the worst parts,” comments Chase.

The LS857 is equipped with a live heel boom and the 5195 directional felling saw. It is typically winch assisted, operating 600-1,300 feet (180-395 m) from a residential paved road, where the winch assist machine is located. Beyond 1,300 feet, Chase constructs additional roads for extraction access and to locate the winch assist machine. The LS857 progresses down the slope, cutting the root masses from uprooted trees while sorting the roots, trees and brush into separate piles for the skidder. Once the LS857 completes the felling, sorting and shovelling tasks, the assist cable is switched over to the skidder. While the skidder is extracting, the LS857 assists at the landing, sorting and shovelling to roadside. (In scenarios where the LS857 can work unassisted, it pre-bunches and shovels to feed the winch-assisted skidder.)

At the roadside, a loader equipped with a grapple saw merchandises the logs and loads them onto trucks. Logs are hauled to either a sawmill or veneer mill. Roots and brush are loaded onto 30-ton off-road dump trucks and transported to a nearby grinding site that Chase operates. The mulch will eventually be returned to the mountain to be redistributed onto the site for erosion control and aesthetic purposes.
group picture on slope in front of LS857
Chase along some of his crew members. (L-R) Chase Fox, Caden Fox, Keith Laws, Josh Wheeler, Gabe Briggs.

Storm challenges

Extensive debris, fallen trees, and unstable terrain are some of the added challenges and hazards of storm cleanup when compared to conventional timber harvesting. “The roots are the worst up here. We're in a deciduous forest where it's all hardwood. We have no pine at this elevation, and the root masses are bigger than a tree and weigh twice as much. And then you involve the steep slope, and it's just a terrible door to open every day,” explains Chase. He adds that his team treats the project like a harvesting job, but with a higher level of caution due to the hazards. In a conventional harvesting job, Chase and his team would be covering three to five acres per day, whereas here, they are covering half to one acre a day. Chase explains that in his normal logging situations only merchantable timber is extracted from the woods. “We don't remove the roots and brush. In this situation, we're removing everything, and it slows us down dramatically. If we go in today and we're on that 70% slope and we move a half-acre of material, we feel like we've done a pretty good job.”

The 5195 directional felling saw is well suited to the oversize timber, often in the 20-36 in (50-90 cm) diameter range, and steep terrain encountered on the jobsite. The versatility of the 5195 covers off many tasks including untangling, felling, shovelling and sorting the trees. “With the 5195, you can process the top out. You can cut the root off, and you can shovel it to a skid road. It really eliminates a machine,” says Chase, adding that he can cut a 37 in (94 cm) diameter tree in a single pass.
Steep hillside
A challenging worksite. Chase believes the Tigercat LS857 is the best solution to safely tackle this extreme terrain storm cleanup contract.
Chase is impressed with the auto-leveling capability and mentions that the LS857 has more lift capacity and leveling capabilities than previous machines he has owned, resulting in increased safety and productivity. “It has more leveling front to rear, and it has more leveling side to side. I can hit the auto-level, and it's the lazy way of running a cutter. It is wonderful,” says Chase, noting that the longer undercarriage stance makes the machine feel very stable on steep terrain.

He also comments on operator comfort. “The seat is on another level because it's heated and cooled, and you know you're sitting in there eight or ten hours each day. I'm six-foot three, and I can slide it back and be comfortable,” says Chase. Service access is also an important feature for him. “If I need to go change the starter on a Tigercat, specifically that 857, I promise you I can have it off in 15 minutes. And that's worth a lot to me. It may not be tomorrow, but there will be a time when I'll need to change the starter or the batteries or a hose blows. Everything is meant to be worked on, and that's what I like.”

Fox Logging employee and LS857 operator, Josh Wheeler, shares his thoughts. “It’s a very strong machine. It’s got lots of swing power. To me this machine has got better stability than the previous machine I operated. With the grouser extensions, it goes anywhere you want it to go.”
Odd road dump trucks carrying large root masses
Two 30-ton off-road dump trucks loaded with brush and root masses, heading to a nearby grinding site. The resulting mulch will eventually be applied to the mountain for erosion control and aesthetic purposes.
The LS857 is serviced by Tidewater’s Polkton branch, managed by Jamey Watkins, who has built a strong relationship with Fox Logging. “Tidewater has been fantastic. The support has been great,” says Chase.

Tidewater is proud to have been able to provide the LS857 to Fox Logging to help the company tackle this challenging cleanup contract in a safe manner. “Chase Fox is the first customer on the east coast to purchase the LS857 and we applaud him for recognizing the unparalleled engineering of Tigercat machines as well as the outstanding support Tidewater provides. Chase is a new Tigercat and Tidewater customer and we are excited to see the impact he is making in the North Carolina community,” says Jamey.

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