A Tree Just Came Down. What to Do in the First Ten Minutes
Joe HennesseyPublished
- emergency
- storm damage
- tree removal
- oxford ct
If a tree has come down on your house, your car or across your driveway, start here and read the next six lines before anything else. Get everyone away from it, including out of the rooms underneath it. Treat every wire on or near that tree as live, whatever it looks like. If a line is involved, call the utility before you call anybody else. If the tree is across a public road, that is 911 or the road authority. If someone is hurt or trapped, that call comes before all of it. Then, and only then, read on.
Key Takeaways
People first, and that includes the rooms under the tree.
A tree resting on a roof is holding a load, and loads shift. Get out and stay out until somebody has looked at it.
Every wire is live until the utility says otherwise.
Connecticut DEEP says to stay away from a tree near a downed line because trees conduct electricity, and to contact the utility.
A tree on the house means calling town emergency services and following their direction.
That is DEEP's guidance, not ours.
A tree in the street is the town's, not yours.
DEEP directs people to contact the town when the tree is in the road.
Photograph before anything moves, from somewhere safe.
It is the cheapest thing you will do all week and it is the difference between a smooth claim and an argued one.
Call your carrier promptly, and do not assume the answer.
The Connecticut Insurance Department says a policy generally covers removing a tree from the house when the damage came from a covered peril, and that coverage and deductibles depend on the policy.
Storm work is two phases and should be priced as two.
Make the site safe first, clear up second, so you are not paying for both before you can see the ground.
The first ten minutes, in order
The order matters more than the speed. Doing the fourth thing first is how people get hurt.
The first ten minutes, in order
- 1
Get everyone out and away
Including from the rooms below. Do not stand under it to look at it. A tree that has stopped moving is not the same as a tree that is stable, and a roof holding a trunk is holding a load that can shift when the wind picks back up.
- 2
Assume every wire is energized
Not just the obvious ones. Connecticut DEEP is explicit that trees can conduct electricity, so a limb touching a line makes the whole tree dangerous, and the instruction is to stay away and contact the utility. Do not move a branch to see what is under it.
- 3
Make the right call first
A wire is the utility. A public road is 911 or the road authority. Anyone hurt or trapped is 911, before everything. A tree on the house is town emergency services, and DEEP says to follow their direction from there.
- 4
Clear the fall path of anything still standing
After one tree comes down, the ones near it have lost the shelter they were growing in. If a trunk is leaning or soil is heaved at the base, give it far more room than feels necessary.
- 5
Photograph it from somewhere safe
Before anything is moved. Wide shots showing where the tree came from, closer shots of the damage, and something in frame for scale. A bad photograph now beats a perfect one after the tree has been cut up.
- 6
Call your insurer, then call for the removal
In that order. A company that puts its own number at step one during an emergency is selling into a crisis.
That last line is deliberately last. A company that puts its own number at step one during an emergency is selling into a crisis. Ours is at the bottom, and we answer it at any hour.
When it is genuinely an emergency, and when it can wait until morning
Not everything that looks alarming at midnight needs a crew at midnight, and paying emergency rates for something that could be scheduled is money spent for nothing.
Hover or tap a row to highlight it.
| Situation | What it is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A tree or limb on a wire | A utility problem before it is a tree problem | Call the utility. Stay well clear. Nobody touches it |
| Anyone hurt or trapped | Before every other item here | 911 |
| A tree on the house or a vehicle | A genuine emergency, make-safe first | Town emergency services, then 24/7 removal |
| A tree across a public road | Not yours to clear | 911 or the road authority |
| The drive blocked, nothing else damaged | Urgent but not dangerous | Same night or first thing, at a normal rate |
| A trunk shifted, or soil heaved at the base | The root plate is moving and it can fail without more wind | Keep the area clear and get it looked at quickly |
| A big limb down in the yard, nothing under it | Not an emergency, and it does not become one overnight | Schedule it |
The pattern is simple enough to hold at two in the morning. If it involves a wire, a person, or a road, somebody other than a tree company gets the first call. Everything else is a question of whether it can wait until light.
What happens when we get there
Storm work is two separate jobs and it is worth knowing that before the quote arrives.
Make-safe comes first. The point of this phase is to stop the situation getting worse: taking the load off a roof, cutting a trunk free of what it is resting on, clearing the drive so people can get in and out, and making the area safe to walk past. It is not tidy and it is not meant to be.
Cleanup is second, and it is priced separately on purpose. Once the site is safe, the rest is a normal removal: the tree down and cut, brush chipped, wood stacked where you want it or hauled away, ruts and torn turf dealt with. Splitting the two means you are not paying for the second before you have had a chance to see the ground and decide what you actually want done.
You will also be asked things a crew genuinely needs to know. Where the water and gas run. Whether the septic field is anywhere near where a machine will cross. Whether the drive will carry weight after this much rain. None of that is padding; it decides what equipment can get to the tree at all.
What an emergency removal costs, and why it is more
It costs more than the same tree taken down on a Tuesday, and it is worth being plain about why rather than pretending otherwise. It is overtime, a crew pulled off another job, and equipment that has to be free right now instead of next week. Connecticut operators publish a storm premium openly.
Beyond the premium, the drivers are the ordinary ones. What the tree is resting on, whether it comes apart in rigged sections rather than in one piece, whether a machine can reach it, and how much material has to leave the property. A tree on a roof is slower than the same tree on a lawn because every piece has to be taken somewhere deliberately rather than dropped.
Published Connecticut price models put the whole span for removals, smallest to largest, from a couple of hundred dollars up into the high five thousands, and storm work sits toward the upper half of whatever your tree would otherwise cost. Those are market figures rather than a quote from us.
Insurance, without the promises
Here is what the Connecticut Insurance Department actually says: a homeowner policy generally covers removing a tree from the house when the damage resulted from a covered peril, and coverage and deductibles depend on your policy. That is the honest shape of it, and anybody telling you at 3am that your insurance will definitely cover this is guessing on your behalf.
Three things help your claim and cost nothing:
Photograph before anything moves. Once a tree is cut into sections, the evidence of what happened is gone.
Protect the property from further damage, but only if it is safe. A tarp over an opening is reasonable. Climbing onto a damaged roof in the wind is not, and an insurer does not expect it.
Call the carrier promptly. Not because a delay voids anything, but because they will tell you what they need before the site changes.
What is generally not covered is worth knowing too: a tree that fell because it was already dead or rotting can be treated as preventable, and removing a tree that fell without hitting anything is usually not covered at all. That is the argument for taking down the obviously failing tree before the storm rather than after it.
Three things that help a claim and cost nothing
Photograph before anything moves
Once a tree is cut into sections, the evidence of what happened is gone. Do it in the dark if you have to.
Protect from further damage, if safe
A tarp over an opening is reasonable. Climbing onto a damaged roof in the wind is not, and an insurer does not expect it.
Call the carrier promptly
Not because a delay voids anything, but because they will tell you what they need before the site changes.
Why Oxford and this part of Connecticut sees this so often
This is not a general statement about storms. It is about ground.
In August 2024 a band of roughly seven inches of rain fell in three hours from Monroe to Oxford, and state sources document road and infrastructure damage in Oxford from it. Saturated ground is the mechanism that matters: a root plate that would hold in dry soil lets go when the ground around it is water. Add wind onto that and trees that stood through ten winters come over in the eleventh with no visible warning.
Add the local shape of things, which the town's own planning describes as wooded hillsides and severe topography with steep, narrow roads in the western part of town. Long drives, sloping lots, and a lot of mature canopy directly over the places people park and sleep.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do first if a tree falls on my house in Connecticut?
Get everyone out, including from the rooms underneath it, and stay out. Treat any wire on or near the tree as live. Then call town emergency services and follow their direction, which is what Connecticut DEEP advises for a tree on a home. Photograph it from a safe distance before anything is moved, then call your insurer, then arrange the removal.
Who do I call for a tree on a house in Connecticut?
Town emergency services first for a tree on the house. The utility first if any wire is involved, because DEEP says to stay away from a tree near a downed line and contact them. 911 if anyone is hurt or if the tree is across a public road. A tree company comes after whichever of those applies.
Does homeowners insurance cover a fallen tree?
Generally it covers removing the tree from the house when the damage came from a covered peril, and the specifics depend on your policy and deductible, per the Connecticut Insurance Department. It usually will not cover a tree that fell because it was already dead or rotting, and removing a tree that fell without hitting anything is normally not covered.
Do you actually answer at night?
Yes. Emergency response runs around the clock through dispatch. That is a different thing from the office being open: normal hours are Monday to Saturday, 7am to 5pm, and the emergency line is for exactly the situation you are in.
How fast can somebody get here?
It depends on the night and on what else is happening. In a widespread storm every tree company in the valley is working through a list, and anyone promising a specific time during one is guessing. What we will tell you is where you are in the order and whether the situation needs the utility or the town before it needs us.
Can I cut the tree up myself in the meantime?
Not one that is under tension or resting on something, which is most of them. A trunk holding weight releases that weight when it is cut, and it does not release it gently. Brush on the ground that is not holding anything up is a different matter.
Do you know the order?
1. A tree is down and a wire is lying across it. Who do you call first?
2. A tree is resting on your roof. What is the first thing to do?
3. Is a tree that fell in your yard and hit nothing usually covered by insurance?
4. Why is storm work quoted as two phases?
Pick an answer to begin.
Words you will hear tonight
Tap a term to see what it means.
Make-safe. The first phase of storm work. It stops the situation getting worse: the load off a roof, a trunk cut free of what it is resting on, the drive cleared. It is not tidy and is not meant to be.
Final Thoughts
Almost everything that goes badly wrong after a tree comes down happens in the first ten minutes, and almost all of it is avoidable by getting the order right: people, then wires, then the right call, then documentation, then removal.
So, if you are reading this with a tree on the house, the useful thing is that the next hour has a shape, and none of the first four steps involve waiting for anybody to call you back.
When you get to the removal, Hennessey Tree & Landscape answers around the clock across Oxford and western Connecticut, and storm work is quoted as make-safe first and cleanup second so you can see the ground before deciding the rest. Call (203) 751-2451 at any hour, or get in touch if it can wait until morning.
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