HomeServicesEmergency tree service
A tree on the roof, across the driveway, in the wires or hanging over the front walk. Call first, keep everyone clear, and don't cut anything. We make the site safe, get the weight off what it landed on, and leave you with the photos and paperwork your insurer will ask for.
Anyone hurt or trapped, fire, or a gas smell: call 911 first. Wires down or touching the tree: call 911 and PGE at 503-464-7777, and stay 50 feet back.
Harry Fauver, founder. Updated September 2026.
Get everyone out of the rooms under the tree and keep them out: a trunk that has stopped moving can still settle. If you smell gas, leave the house and call 911 and NW Natural from outside. Turn off power to damaged rooms at the panel only if you can reach it safely.
Photograph the tree and the damage from the ground, inside and out. Then call us. We take the weight off the roof in pieces, from the top of the pile down, so the structure isn't loaded again while we work.
Look up before you walk up. If any wire is on or near the tree, treat this as a wires call. If someone is in a car with a line on it, PGE's advice is to stay inside until the line is dead.
With no wires involved, this is the simplest emergency we do. We cut an exit first, so you can get a vehicle out, and come back for the rest of the tree in daylight. Photograph the car before it's moved.
Stay at least 50 feet away, keep neighbors and kids back, and call 911 and PGE at 503-464-7777. A line doesn't have to spark to be live, a wet tree conducts, and so does the ground around it.
We don't touch a tree that is in contact with a line, and neither should anyone else. Once PGE has cut the power and cleared the wire, the tree is ours to remove.
A limb that has cracked but not fallen is the one that hurts people, because it looks stable. It can come down days later on a calm afternoon. Rope off the ground underneath, move the cars, and keep the dog in.
We climb above it or reach it from the side, tie it off, and lower it under control. Don't pull on it with a rope, a pole saw or a pickup.
During a storm everybody calls at once, so we work in order of danger, not in the order the phone rang. It helps to know where your tree falls on that list.
Those still need doing, and we do them. They just don't need doing at two in the morning, and work done in the dark is slower, riskier and harder on your yard.
The address, what the tree is touching, whether wires are involved, whether anyone is still inside, and how we get a truck to it. A photo texted from a safe distance tells us which equipment to bring, which often saves a second trip.
Three different parties repair three different things, in a fixed order. Knowing the order saves days.
If the mast has been torn loose, call the electrician the same day you call us. They are as busy as we are after a storm, and step three is the one that usually decides how long you are without power.
Call your insurer early, because most policies expect you to prevent further damage and will want to hear about it quickly. Then build the record an adjuster needs:
In general, a policy pays to remove a tree that damaged a covered structure, and often one that blocks a driveway. It usually doesn't pay for a tree that fell on open lawn. We can't tell you what your policy says, but we do write the paperwork so the adjuster doesn't have to guess.
People expect the tree's owner to be responsible. Usually that's not how it works. When a sound tree comes down in a storm, each owner's own policy covers damage on their own side of the line. The neighbor is typically liable only if they knew, or should have known, that the tree was a hazard and did nothing. That is why a dated, written note to a neighbor about a dead or leaning tree is worth sending before the winter, not after.
Beaverton's code recognizes that a tree in the right-of-way sometimes has to come out before a permit can be issued, when that is necessary to avoid imminent injury or damage. The same common sense applies to protected trees on private lots. Photograph the tree before and after, keep our invoice, and tell the Planning Division at 503-526-2420 once things are safe. Ash wood stays inside the emerald ash borer quarantine area, storm or no storm.
Portland General Electric's report on the January 2024 storm named Beaverton, Tigard and Lake Oswego as the hardest-hit areas, with about 440,000 customers losing power over the week. Ice loads every twig at once. Long horizontal limbs on bigleaf maple and birch snap, twin trunks split, and arborvitae hedges splay open.
By midwinter the valley's clay soils are saturated and hold roots poorly. A strong wind from an unusual direction, such as the east wind out of the Gorge, pushes on trees that grew up braced against southwest storms. That is when whole Douglas-firs go over, root plate and all.
On hot, still afternoons, large limbs on oaks and maples sometimes fail with no wind at all. It is less common than storm damage and more surprising. Overextended limbs over patios and play areas are the ones to have shortened.
Most of what we cut up after a storm was predictable. A fall inspection and some weight-reduction pruning is a far smaller job than an emergency, and our ice and wind storm guide shows what to look for.
Get everyone out of the rooms under it and keep them out. If you smell gas or see wires down, call 911 from outside. Then call us, and photograph everything before anything is moved. Don't climb on the roof or cut anything that is bent or under load.
Call 911 and PGE at 503-464-7777, and stay at least 50 feet back, which is PGE's own rule. Assume every line is live, even if your power is out. Nobody can touch the tree until PGE confirms the line is dead.
Usually yes when the tree hit a covered structure such as the house, garage or fence, and often when it blocks the driveway. A tree that fell without hitting anything is often not covered. Policies differ, so call your insurer early and keep every photo and invoice.
City code recognizes removing a right-of-way tree without a permit when that is necessary to avoid imminent injury or damage. Take dated photos first so you can show why. For a protected tree, tell the Planning Division afterward. We help you document it.
The first visit is about safety: getting the weight off the structure, clearing access and securing anything that can still move. Full cleanup often happens in daylight, and sometimes after your insurer's adjuster has seen the damage.
Yes, if anyone or anything is under it. Hanging limbs fall without warning, often days later in calm weather. Keep people, cars and pets out from under it and call. Don't try to pull it down with a rope or a truck.
Tell us about the tree and we'll call to set up a site walk. For emergency service, skip the form and call.
