Tree on Your House or a Power Line? Do This

A tree or large limb down on your house, your car, or a power line is one of the few tree situations that is a true emergency - and the first few minutes matter. What you do (and do not do) can be the difference between a bad night and a genuinely dangerous one. This is a short, clear guide to exactly what to do, in order, when a tree comes down where it shouldn't.

If a power line is involved, this is the whole first step

Read this part first, because it overrides everything else: if the tree or limb is touching, tangled in, or near a power line, stay far away and assume the line is live.

• Do not approach the tree, the line, or anything touching them - not to look, not to move a branch, not to move your car if it is under the line.
• Keep everyone back, including pets and neighbors. Electricity can travel through the tree, the ground, and puddles. A downed line can look dead and still be lethal, and lines can re-energize without warning.
• Call 911 and your utility's emergency line immediately. The power line is the utility's responsibility to shut off and clear. This is not optional and it is not a delay you can shortcut - no tree crew will touch a tree in contact with a live wire until the utility has de-energized it.

Only after the utility has made the line safe can a tree crew work the tree. That sequence exists because it is the one that keeps people alive. We mention it in every storm guide for a reason - see storm-damaged tree: what to do first.

If a tree is on the house (no line involved)

If a tree or large limb is resting on the roof or has hit the house, and no power line is involved:

1. Get everyone out of the affected rooms. A tree on the roof can shift and come through. Stay out of the space beneath it.
2. Leave the house if the structure seems compromised - a tree that has punched through the roof, cracked a wall, or if you smell gas. Call 911 if you are unsure whether the house is safe.
3. Do not try to move the tree or climb up to it. A tree resting on a structure is holding tension and weight in ways that are hard to read; cutting or shifting it wrong can drop it further or send it moving. This is crew work.
4. Photograph everything from a safe distance before anything is touched, for your insurance claim.
5. Call a 24/7 emergency tree service and describe the situation clearly - what the tree is on, whether anyone is hurt, whether a line is involved.

If a tree is on your car

A tree on the car is usually less structurally dangerous than one on the house, but the rules still apply: if a line is involved, stay away and call the utility - do not get in or near the car. If no line is involved, photograph the damage for your auto insurer and leave moving the tree to a crew. A branch pinning a car can be under more tension than it looks.

Why this is not a DIY moment

It is tempting, in the adrenaline of the moment, to grab a chainsaw and start cutting. Please don't. The situations in this guide - trees under load, wood resting on structures, and anything near wires - are exactly the ones that cause the most serious injuries in storm cleanup, every single year. A limb holding up part of a tree can whip when cut. A trunk bent under weight stores enormous force. Overhead wood can drop. A crew brings the rigging, the training, and the equipment to release that load in a controlled way; a homeowner with a ladder and a saw does not, and the cost of getting it wrong is far higher than any removal.

What happens when the crew arrives

For a genuine emergency, a 24/7 line prioritizes the call and dispatches a crew to make the site safe first - stabilizing or removing what is threatening the house or blocking access - and then to clear the rest. On a tree on the house, that often means a crane to lift the trunk straight up and off the roof rather than dragging it and causing more damage. Cost for emergency work runs a wide range depending on what was hit and how dangerous the clearing is; we lay that out in emergency tree removal cost.

The short version

• Line involved? Stay far back, call 911 and the utility, wait for them to clear it. No exceptions.
• Tree on the house? Get out of the affected rooms, leave if the structure is compromised, photograph, call the emergency line.
• Don't cut loaded or overhead wood yourself. It is the most dangerous work in the trade.

If a tree is down on a structure or line on your North Shore property right now, handle safety first and call a 24/7 emergency line. For the follow-up work once the emergency is handled - across Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest, and the North Shore - request a free on-site estimate.