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'Hotshots' Help NYC Clean Up From Tornados

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- New York is getting some very special out of town help to clean up from the recent tornadoes.

LISTEN: WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reports

The Cherokee Hotshots, part of the U.S. Forest Service, were in Brooklyn Tuesday to help clear trees on the north end of Prospect Park and to tend to dangling branches, which they ominously referred to as "widow makers."

Chris Witkiss, who was overseeing a crew of 11 as they worked, spoke with WCBS 880's Marla Diamond about the Tennessee group's efforts.

"And what we're doing with [the dangling braches], is we're throwing some rope up and around, and then pulling them down if we can't reach them with the chain saws," Witkiss said.

It's a big job, even for the elite athletic crew that specializes in putting out forest fires.

The crew came to the city on Sunday following a week long stint battling a fire on acres of farmland in Alabama.  The Hotshots plan to move on to Kissena Park in Queens next.

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