I got a call from a family up Thompson Creek Rd in the Applegate on a Sunday morning. A large black oak had fallen during a storm. They were out of town but had a house sitter taking care of their animals. The oak just about took out their car as well as the mother-in-law cottage. One of the large branches landed on the roof of the cottage and pulled the power line down. They had no power — and a half-cow in the freezer.
The first thing I did was call Pacific Power to shut off the power going into the line to their house. I then called my ground guy and convinced him to come to work on a Sunday.
I assessed the situation. It was a miracle that other than pulling the power lines off of the cottage, there was no significant damage to the cottage or vehicle. The lowest and first limb to hit ground broke the fall and prevented the upper limbs from going through the roof. With that said, if I wasn’t meticulous about how I removed the tree off the roof, I could have easily caused damage to the cottage. When that much weight is resting on a single point, disturbing it carelessly — cutting in the wrong place — can send the rest of the tree into the side of the house.
It was also a dangerous situation for me and my ground guy. Unstable tree, two-story structure, hillside terrain. Before doing any cutting, I tied a rope on the tree and secured the other end to a stout, standing tree further back toward the road. That rope would hold the tree in place and prevent it from falling into the structure once I started cutting.
The black oak was entirely hollow for a good 15 feet of the trunk — quite common in old black oaks. This tree was easily 150 years old. There was a large opening at one of the branch junctures that allowed water to pool into the trunk. Year after year, the trunk rotted from the inside out.
From there, I got onto the roof of the cottage and started cutting away enough branches to work safely up there. I methodically cut back the limbs bearing weight on the roof. As soon as I got it off, I secured my climbing rope around the uppermost branch of the fallen oak and dropped down the side of the building. Some cuts I could let fall to the ground, but many needed to be pulled away from the building as they fell. Others we carefully lowered. That kept anything I cut from hitting the siding, windows, or power meter.
Piece by piece, we got the tree off and away from the building. We removed all the small limbs from the property but left the larger wood as firewood for the homeowners — their preference, since they heat with a wood stove. It also saved them the cost of hauling it off.
The homeowners were more than grateful. The next day they had an electrician out to restore power. When they returned from their trip, they had me come back to assess other potential problem trees on the property. That follow-up visit is usually how I know a job went right.
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Got a tree you’re worried about?
Let’s take a look. I’ll tell you what needs to happen, and what doesn’t. Call (541) 846-3103 or request a free assessment.
