Two nights ago, my town had some high velocity wind (40-50 mph) blow through town. The next morning, one tenant called and said a tree in the vacant lot next door toppled over and fell across the chain link fence and took his power line with it. Of course, he had no power and he did call the power company. Power company came and disconnected his power at the street. However, power company said they would not restore power to his house until someone else removed the medium size tree from the backyard.

Since I now have a professional "tree man" on my call list, I called him and he went that afternoon, cut the fallen tree into smaller pieces and hauled it off. Cost about $500.00.

If this incident had happened at one of your rental properties, how would the fallen tree /power line issue been solved. Since the tenant did not have power, would you consider this an emergency that needed immediate attention? Also, assuming you own a chainsaw, would you have attempted to remove the fallen tree yourself.

First, I can't imagine why the power company can't disconnect the old wire - leaving it under the tree - and hook up a new one. That's kind of mind-boggling.

Just how long will they force their customer to go without power just because they don't own a chainsaw, have the inclination to do it themselves, and they need to wait for the pros who are already busy cutting up all the other trees the storm blew down? Why do they care if you have a tree down in your yard? Geez, that's messed up!

I wonder...is that really what the power company said, or is it what the resident said the power company said...

Anyway, That is something I would deal with asap. I would take care of it asap at my own house, so residents get treated the same.

Depending on the size of the tree, I would go over with my chainsaw & chop it up enough to free the wire & get it to pieces small enough for someone else to move.

But first I would call the power company myself and complain & see if I could get them to hook it back up quicker.

My yard guy and my handyman both have chainsaws. I'll usually save my tree guy work for trees that are super-tall and complicated (like taking down three 50' pine trees a few feet away from a house) or for trees that require a climber to cut out the dead wood. I also don't have my yard guy or my handyguy deal with branches near a live power line.

For large trees or branches that have fallen, I'll have one of them chop it up into firewood. Sometimes I'll keep it for myself, and sometimes I'll let them keep it to sell it.

Yes, it would be an emergency due to no power.

Deanna,

I have an electric chainsaw that would have been perfect for this tree, if I had any electricity to operate it.

DJ,

AL Power has an independent tree cutting contractor (Asplundh) that specializes in cutting trees or limbs down that pose a threat to power lines near streets and highways, etc. Since this happened on private property, the responsibility to remove the fallen tree fell on the homeowner which is me.

I have two full service "tree guys" in my phone. When the high winds come through, everyone needs every tree guy in town, so I get in touch with them ASAP. I've used them for non-emergency work and at my own personal residence, so there's already a relationship and I'm in their book of business.

Power gets restored as soon as the tree guy can get there and as soon as the power company can come back out to restore power. I do not go chop up the tree myself. If it takes awhile, the tenant may need to use their renters insurance, which provides coverage for loss of use due to acts of God. Or they can crash on the couch of a family member or friend.

Side note: my handyman can usually take care of anything up to a certain size and if they aren't. He usually gets to me same day due to the large amount of business I give him.

It's RARE that I need a full service "tree guy" with a bucket truck/climbing spars, etc. Off the top of my head I'm thinking twice in my 20 years of landlording I've had an emergency power situation like what you're describing where wind + tree took down a powerline.

Powerlines down are just another day in the life of a landlord. I don't think you get as many ice storms as we do down where you are. We get typically 2-3 per year, and that ice brings down powerlines more frequently that wind blows down trees.

Chain Saws and Band Saws are a NO-NO for the non-professional. I told my "Best Friend" to hire one of the street gardeners to cut up a fallen tree, and haul it away. The estimates from two different pros were between $375 and $500.

Instead my "friend" told his wife he was going to do it himself. He purchased a $20 Harbor Freight Sawzall and $10 worth of their blades. I had warned him he needed to buy Carbide tree trimming blades from Home Depot at $7 to $15 a piece.

For a couple of hours he tried to cut a few branches, but the horrible Harbor Freight saw blades got dull quickly-junk. So the tree sat across thier lawn for "months".

Finally the wife purchased online an electric chain saw. She started to cut the tree up and her husband showed up and wanted to take over cutting the true up.

Hubby has corded electric chainsaw, generator and safety equipment. I’ve got battery operated pole saw and safety equipment. Daughter has battery operated chain saw and pole saw. Daughter and I both have corded chippers for small stuff, which makes great mulch. Larger pieces are used for hugelkultur or natural playspaces, or just garden bed edging.

Being without power in this modern day, yeah, we’d make it a priority.

We call pros for large trees; small low branches we handle it ourselves and leave it at the curb for city pick up.

Yesterday a large tree split in half, few large branches fell on the roof. We spend $700 to remove and haul away, the pros did it in 20 minutes!! (had quotes from $700-$1300 range)

My husband chopped up a small falling tree blocking the main entrance of another rental and I help tacking them up at the curb, took us 1.5 hrs.

Electric chain saw?

What is next drinking non-alcohol beer? The difference in power between gas and electric is like driving a Yugo vs a BMW. Both will get you there, one will do it with ease and the other MIGHT get you there.

I have a tree guy. I would have called him.

Ray, my husband was very skeptical of my battery operated lawnmower and snow thrower, but has since become a fan. The electric chainsaw arrived after he got so tired of fiddling with gas engines. Engines aren’t his thing, and I am completely clueless when it comes to engines. So, yup, less power, but for the once every few years tasks, they’ll do.

Robert J is right that chainsaws aren’t for everyone, but safety, that’s something my husband and I are both good at ( uh-oh! Better knock on wood, heehee) And for taking down a tree, or bucking up a downed tree, my husband can read the angles like crazy. He knows right where the tree or limb will go.

The line must have been trapped under the tree, thus the reason they didn't connect the power back up.

If all the guys that do this are busy and I could get in to cut enough to free the downed cable I would do that myself.

Get power restored so the tenant is happy. I would rather have someone else do it. We heated with wood only when I was growing up. I swore off that.

I do have a battery chainsaw and I LOVE it. As Busy stated, no messing with gas engines. No storing mixed gas, spilling it or worrying that it went bad.

My Dewalt 60v, 16" chainsaw will cut up a small to medium tree enough for me to get it out of the way. I have plenty of spare batteries and a couple extra chains. Only other thing I need is bar oil.

Oh, and for anybody that missed it, Roy said power to the line was safely disconnected by power company, just that power would not be restored until downed tree was removed. IF power was still live, then that’s a big NOPE for us. But power was disconnected.

No power to the house gets handled immediately. Especially here at this time of your. No power means no heat, which might lead to frozen water lines.

MC, I think the situation is that the wire is under the fallen tree.

They will not move the tree so it is on the owner to get the wire freed up.