AKRON, Ohio -- Akron-based FirstEnergy demonstrated an unusual tool for maintaining safe operation of its transmission line corridors.

FirstEnergy, like all major electric providers, must maintain a year-round vegetation management program to keep trees and undergrowth from contacting power lines and potentially interrupting power service. The company has about 24,000 miles of transmission lines in a six-state, 65,000-square-mile service territory.

The saw consists of multiple 24-inch rotary blades powered by a motor suspended on a vertical boom beneath the chopper.

The company made its demonstration Friday in Walton Hills. It involved an aerial saw that hangs from a low-flying helicopter used to trim trees along an adjacent power line corridor. The tool trims large areas quickly, trimming both sides of a 10-12 mile right-of-way in a week, including remote areas inaccessible by vehicle.

Here's how it works:

The saw consists of multiple 24-inch rotary blades powered by a motor suspended on a vertical boom beneath the chopper.

As the helicopter flies slowly along the right-of-way, the aerial saw cuts and trims trees and other vegetation.

Tree limbs 8-10 inches are neatly cut without tearing. Tree limbs fall straight down, assisted by the air blasts from the rotors of the helicopter.

Crews on the ground help ensure public safety and that the cut limbs are properly handled.

The aerial saw offers advantages to the company, as well as the affected property owners and communities, by:

protecting private land and roads from damage by heavy equipment and bucket trucks making repeated trips during the course of the work schedule.

serving as the best tool to use in environmentally sensitive areas since it is not necessary to take equipment in to perform the work.

providing an option to maintain trees that might otherwise need to be removed.

In the coming weeks, residents in Maple Heights, Bedford Heights, Bedford, Seven Hills, Valley View, Solon, Independence, and Brecksville will be able to see the aerial saw in action.

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