Emergency Tree Service in Fayetteville, AR

What to do before we get there

Northwest Arkansas gets both ends of it. Spring brings straight-line winds and the occasional tornado warning, and January ice storms load a mature hardwood canopy with more weight than it was built to carry. Both find the same weak spots.

If a tree has come down on your property right now, a few things matter more than anything else:

• Assume every downed line is live. Stay well back and keep others back. Call the utility and 911 before you call us. We cannot work near an energized line until it is de-energized, and neither can anyone else who is doing it correctly.
• Get out from under anything hanging. A limb caught in the canopy can let go with no warning and no wind. Rope off the area if you can do it from a safe distance.
• Leave the tree where it is. A trunk resting on a roof is often holding the structure in place. Cutting it wrong can drop the rest of it through the ceiling.
• Photograph everything before anyone touches it. Wide shots and close shots, from several angles, with timestamps. Your adjuster will want them and they are impossible to recreate after cleanup.
• Call your insurer to open the claim. Do it early, even before you have numbers.

How we work an emergency

The first move is stabilizing, not cleaning. If a trunk is on a roof, it gets secured and taken off in controlled pieces so the load comes off the structure evenly instead of all at once. Hanging limbs get brought down before anything else, because they are what hurts people during cleanup. Once the hazard is gone we cut, chip and haul.

After a widespread storm, the whole town calls at once. We triage by danger: trees on occupied structures and blocked-in vehicles come before a limb down in a back yard. If you are in the second category we will tell you that rather than promise a time we cannot hit.

Insurance documentation

Homeowner's policies commonly cover removal when a tree damages a covered structure, and commonly do not when it simply falls in the yard. Coverage varies and your policy is the authority, not us. What we can do is give your adjuster what they ask for: dated photos of the tree as we found it, a written scope of the work, and an itemized invoice. Ask us at the start and we will document as we go.

After the storm passes

Trees that survived a big wind event are often not as sound as they look. Fresh cracks in a trunk, a lean that was not there last month, soil lifted on one side of the base, or limbs that are torn rather than cleanly broken are all worth a look. Getting a damaged canopy cleaned up promptly is what keeps the next storm from turning it into a full takedown next season.

Be careful about who you hire in the week after a storm. Crews follow weather into town, knock doors, ask for cash up front, and are gone before anyone notices the work was bad. Ask for a certificate of insurance from the insurer, get the price in writing, and do not pay in full before the job is done.

What counts as an emergency

Call right away if a tree or large limb is on your house, garage or vehicle, if it is blocking the only way in or out of your property, or if a broken limb is hanging in the canopy over a spot where people walk. A tree that is leaning harder than it was yesterday, with the soil cracked or lifted on one side, also belongs in this group. Those trees can go over without warning, especially once the ground is soaked.

A tree that fell in an open part of the yard and is not touching anything can usually wait for a scheduled visit. It still needs to be dealt with, but it does not need someone climbing in the dark. That kind of work, along with broken branches, debris piles and a yard full of limbs, is covered on our storm damage cleanup page.

Power lines come first

If a tree is touching a power line, stay well away from the tree and the line, and call the utility before you call us. Wires can be live even when the lights are out. Once the utility has made the line safe, we can get to work on the tree.

While you wait for us, take photos of the damage from a safe distance before anything is moved. Your insurer will want to see what the scene looked like, and pictures taken right away are the most useful record you can have.