Emergency Storm Tree Service in Bakersfield, CA

Emergency storm tree service in Bakersfield is less about hurricanes or ice and more about sudden wind. The valley's strong wind events, often arriving with a winter front or as dry gusts that kick up dust, can snap limbs and push over trees whose roots are shallow or decayed. In October 2019, high winds across Kern County brought two large trees down onto a home on Dodge Avenue in south Bakersfield. Trees most likely to fail are ones already weakened: pines that have browned out from drought, eucalyptus with heavy limbs, trees with old cavities, and trees whose roots were cut for a wall, a pool or a sidewalk.

First steps after a tree comes down

If a tree is touching or near a power line, stay away from it and from anything it is touching, and call PG&E or 911. Do not try to move limbs off wires yourself. If a tree is on the house, get everyone out of the rooms beneath it. Take photos of the damage from a safe spot for your insurance company before anything is moved. Then call (661) 451-7519 with what happened, where the tree is, and whether anything is blocking a door, driveway or the street. You can call any time to leave details.

How storm work is done

A tree lying on a roof is under tension. Branches can be bent like springs and the trunk can shift once weight is taken off. The safe approach is to cut it off the structure a piece at a time, from the outside in, with pieces lowered rather than dropped. Sometimes a crane is the safest way to lift a heavy trunk off a house without adding more damage. Split limbs still hanging in a tree, sometimes called hangers, are rigged and lowered before anyone works below them.

After the emergency

Once the tree is off the house and the hazard is gone, the rest can be planned at a normal pace: removing the stump and remaining trunk, pruning a damaged tree that can be saved, or grinding the stump. Storm-damaged trees deserve a careful look, because a tree that lost a major limb may have other cracks that are not obvious from the ground. We tell you whether a damaged tree looks worth keeping.

Insurance

Homeowner's insurance often covers removing a tree that fell on a covered structure, but coverage varies by policy. We can give you a written, itemized description of the work and the cost to send to your insurer. Keep photos from before and after the cleanup.