WEST HAZLETON – For Allen Cooper, trimming a tree this time of year usually is anything but a festive occasion; it’s cold and dangerous work.

While Cooper enjoys spending a few hours decorating a relatively small pine or spruce with his wife and three children before Christmas, many of his winter days are spent scaling tall oaks and elms whose branches extend over the rooftops of homes.

Such was the case one recent, chilly December morning, when Cooper and his four-man crew brought to the ground – piece by piece – a 70-foot-tall white oak in the back yard of a Harvey Street resident in West Hazleton.

The tree had been damaged during an ice storm last winter, and branches had broken and fallen. One crashed through a wooden fence, so Cooper’s expertise was needed to remove the hazard.

Many customers prefer Cooper to do his work in the winter or early spring while the ground is still frozen, so his crew can maneuver the heavy equipment in yards without tearing up lawns and creating ruts with his trucks, crane and loaders, he said.

Having a crew member tie off and cut limbs and branches from a truck with an extended bucket makes the work easier and faster, as was the case on Harvey Street. Logs from the 3½ -ton oak rested in pieces on the ground and chipped branches lay in the beds of trucks less than three hours after the crew arrived.

But for customers who don’t mind paying extra to have a tree taken down without having their lawns disturbed, Cooper must don his safety harness and tree gaffs – spiked braces that wrap around his lower legs – and scale the tree to perform the cutting. The crew must drag or carry the lumber to the trucks.

Working in the lumber business is somewhat of a calling for the 39-year-old Butler Township resident.

“I’ve been doing this for 24 years now. I actually worked in the woods with my father, cutting paper wood for Procter & Gamble,” Cooper said.

“I’m actually the third generation to make a living off trees. Both my grandfathers owned saw mills, and my father and one of my uncles, so I was kind of born into it. I guess it’s in my lineage; it’s in my blood.”

Cooper learned to climb trees safely while working for a large timbering company from 1986 to 1987, until he was laid off. The following spring, he started his own company – Cooper’s Tree Service – from scratch.

Buoyed by the success of his first company, Cooper decided to embark on a new business venture with his wife, Terri, which incorporates another of his passions – radio-controlled models. The couple has been operating Hobby Headquarters and RC Racing in their hometown – the Drums section of Butler Township – for about six weeks.

But most of his time is still spent with the tree business.

After Cooper climbs a tree and breaks or cuts off the small branches with his hands or a chain saw, he ties a nylon rope to a section of a larger limb. The rope, which runs through a pulley secured near the upper-trunk of the tree, is tied off until the limb is cut and swings down. The limb is then lowered to the ground using the pulley system.

Cooper says a tree service technician must be “somewhat of a sailor,” as knowing how to tie a knot properly is essential.

“If a knot’s not tied right, the tree can come right out. I crushed a truck one time like that,” Cooper said of his early days in the business.

While Cooper finds cleaning up and raking debris from a yard to be the most tedious part of the job, he says his favorite part is still the climb.

“When I was 25, it was nothing to me. Now that I’m almost 40, I have a lot to lose if I get hurt,” Cooper said.

“But the little bit of thrill involved in it makes you feel alive. It’s an adrenaline rush.”