A tree on the house, the car or the driveway, a split trunk, a limb hanging over the front walk: call us. We make it safe first, document the damage for your insurer, and clean up after.
The tree has already fallen. Nothing about it will get worse in the next ten minutes, but people get hurt in those minutes by going to look. Do these in order.
Leave the damaged rooms. Keep children, pets and curious neighbors well back from the tree, the crater and anything it is leaning on.
Treat every line on the ground, in the tree or on a car as live. If anyone is hurt, a line is sparking, or you smell gas, leave and call 911.
Fallen trees shift. Broken limbs hang in the crown and drop without warning. Stay off the roof and out from under the trunk.
Wide shots of the whole scene, then close-ups of each point of damage, all from a safe spot. Your insurer will ask for them.
Open the claim and ask what they need before work starts. Acting to prevent further damage is normally expected of you.
(608) 571-1326. Tell us what the tree is resting on, whether wires are involved, and whether anyone is blocked in.
The first call after a storm is not always a tree service. This order keeps people safe and keeps an insurance claim clean.
Someone is hurt, a tree is on an occupied house, wires are sparking, or you smell gas
Call 911.
A tree or limb is on a power line, or a line is on the ground
MGE, 608-252-7000. Stay well back and treat every wire as live.
The tree came from the terrace, a park or a greenway
City of Madison Urban Forestry, 608-266-4816. After hours: 608-255-2345.
The tree came from your yard and is on your house, car, fence or driveway
Tree Service Madison, (608) 571-1326. Our emergency tree services start with making it safe.
During a storm we sort calls by hazard, not by the order they came in. Knowing which group you are in helps both of us.
Emergency tree removal is slower and more careful than ordinary tree work, not faster. The aim is to get the tree off without doing any more damage than the storm already did.
We start by looking, not cutting: wires, gas meters, what the tree is resting on, which limbs are broken and still hanging, and whether the roots have let go. A safe zone is marked, and nothing is cut until we know what each piece is holding up.
A bent trunk or a limb pinned under weight stores energy like a drawn bow. Cut it in the wrong place and it splits, springs or rolls. Hung-up limbs fall when the tree below them moves, and an uprooted tree’s root plate can slam back into its hole the moment the trunk is cut free. This is why a storm is the worst possible time to learn to use a chainsaw.
The weight comes off in small pieces, from the outside in, lowered on ropes or lifted clear, so the tree never shifts and drags more roof with it. Once the load is off, your roofer or restoration company can close the opening.
Brush is chipped, wood is hauled and the yard is raked. The stump or root plate can be handled in the same visit or later: see stump grinding and stump removal.
We are tree people, not insurance people, and we do not interpret your policy. What we can do is make sure the tree side of your claim is documented the way adjusters want it.
If the tree came from next door, or from the terrace, photograph the stump or the break as well. It shows where the tree stood and what condition it was in.
June 2022. May 21, 2024. April 14 and June 10, 2026, when more than 14,000 MGE customers lost power. Severe wind is a regular visitor to Madison, and most of the trees that fail were showing signs first.
More than you might expect. A tree that kept most of its crown and has a sound trunk usually recovers, given proper corrective tree pruning: torn limbs cut back cleanly to sound wood and the crown rebalanced. Split forks can sometimes be supported with tree cabling by a qualified arborist. A split main trunk, a lifted root plate, or a crown that is mostly gone usually means tree removal. Storm-torn oaks get their wounds sealed immediately, and between April 1 and October 15 the City’s oak work permit is issued on an emergency basis.
Any of these is a reason to book an ordinary estimate, long before it becomes an emergency.
After every big storm, crews from out of the area work Madison neighborhoods door to door. Some are fine. Before you agree to anything, ask for a written quote, ask for a certificate of insurance sent to you by the insurer, not a photocopy, and check that the company has a local address you can visit. Ours is 4269 W Beltline Hwy. Anyone who pushes you to sign on the spot has told you what you need to know.
Call (608) 571-1326 as soon as it happens. During storms we triage by hazard: trees on occupied homes first, then blocked driveways, then everything else. Tell us what the tree is resting on and whether wires are involved, and we will tell you honestly where you stand.
Call 911 if the line is sparking or lying on a car or building, then MGE at 608-252-7000. Stay well back and keep others away: a downed line can be live even when it is silent. No tree crew may touch the tree until MGE has made the line safe. Then we take over.
Often, when the tree damaged a covered structure such as the house, garage or fence. A tree that falls without hitting anything is generally not covered. Policies differ, so call your insurer early. We supply photos and paperwork that separate structure work from yard debris.
In most cases your own policy responds to damage on your property, wherever the tree came from. It can be different if the owner had been warned the tree was dangerous and did nothing. That is a question for your insurer. Either way, the tree has to come off safely first.
Report it to City of Madison Urban Forestry at 608-266-4816, or 608-255-2345 after hours. Terrace and park trees are the City’s to remove. If it is on your house or blocking you in, say so when you call. Photograph everything before it is moved.
Often. A tree that kept most of its crown and has a sound trunk usually recovers with proper corrective pruning, and split forks can sometimes be cabled by a qualified arborist. A split main trunk, a lifted root plate or a crown that is mostly gone usually means removal.
Tell us what you’re looking at and we’ll call to set a time to walk the yard. If a tree is down or hanging, call instead.
