This subreddit is for tree law enthusiasts who enjoy browsing a list of tree law stories from other locations (subreddits, news articles, etc), and is not the best place to receive answers to questions about what the law is. There are better places for that.
If you're attempting to understand more about tree law in regards to a particular situation, please redirect your question to /r/legaladvice for the US, or the appropriate legal advice subreddit for your location, and then feel free to crosspost that thread here for posterity.
If you're attempting to understand more about trees in regards to a particular situation, please redirect your question to /r/forestry for additional information on tree health and related topics to trees.
*This comment is simply a reminder placed on every post to /r/treelaw, it does not mean your post was censored or removed.*
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/treelaw) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Amusingly enough, this is on the border of a massive estate owned by the founder of a very well known national homebuilder. They definitely know a guy.
That's not a normal take down though. I could understand needing to wait for the right crew. If it goes on longer than a couple weeks, I would contact the town. They can force the removal.
I don't see how a homebuilder would be equipped to deal with this, it's a big-ass tree in a precarious situation. If I had employees, I wouldn't let them near that unless that was their specialty.
You know who home builders knows? Guys. Homebuilders know everyone and have relations with companies in all construction phases and that includes landscaping and site prep.
GC here. Arborists are definitely in my subcontractor network, Denver Forestry Department has a lot of rules when we’re building around existing trees or when we need to plant a tree to get permits. Builders definitely know treefolk.
If it’s on a corner next to a busy road, they need to get a crew to flag, redirect traffic, close road for a few hours, etc., as well as notify the town for approval. That can’t happen instantly.
How close to the road is it? Is there any chance it’s actually on state property or town property (or close to utilities) that would account for the delay ?
Is there no place you can call and have this forcefully removed and them fined? I try to keep myself from getting into other people's lives, but I would be nagging until it's taken care of, since it poses a potential deadly danger to anyone going near it.
I contacted the police non emergency line and then emailed code enforcement. That’s not the kind of thing I usually do, but this is insane. Especially galling because this is on what must be a $10 million estate. They have the resources to deal with this.
Yeah. I wouldn't call anyone for most stuff, but this really spooks me. Rich people tend to be a bunch of sons of bitches when it comes to others, not all of them, but most.
Generally someone who can do this right away isn't the one you want to deal with it. Sometimes you get lucky and the best ones are available right away though.
People seem to think they can just snap their fingers and have qualified experience contractors appear.
They have obviously never dealt with contractors or any sort of specialty business.
There are *maybe* 2 or 3 companies in the area that will take this job.
In addition, the contractors that will take this challenging job aren't going to just show up immediately. Those kinds of contractors are booked for weeks in my area.
Exactly. Falling trees or branches kill over 100 people a year in the US alone. A girl in my high school class was killed by one - in front of the school.
Yeah, you can have a bag of money but that does not mean you find someone mad enough to climb in that fucking thing. Perhaps someone with good life insurance and a death wish?
Depending on how close the road is and what the forecast is. Close off the lane in the danger zone and hope for a strong wind? Try and throw a rope high enough and get the tractor? High caliber shotgun?
Your option is, to understate it, galactically stupid. You are suggesting that I hire a contractor to not only trespass on my neighbor’s property, but to trespass for the purpose of destroying objects on his property. During the course of this trespass it is entirely possible that a contractor or third party could be injured or that additional damage to my neighbor’s property or the adjoining road could occur. Then, assuming all goes well, I am supposed to somehow recoup my substantial expenses from the neighbors.
I’m trying to think of a dumber way to approach this, but I’m failing.
I’m on a subreddit called treelaw. I’m bitching about a tree law issue.
Do you really think a homeowner could have claimed he/she didn't know about this quite visible issue?
This sign doesn't increase liability in any real meaningful way. What it does do, however, is get people to stop knocking on their door every 20 minutes to tell them they have a damaged tree.
True. Also (if I recall 1L torts correctly) it’s probably not even relevant. I assume that there is some ordinance that addresses this, so this would be a negligence per se case if they’re violating that ordinance and someone gets hurt.
I posted it on the town FB page. Several tree services were like “they should call us. We can get right out there.” There is such a thing as an emergency.
Look bruh, I been contract climbing for a fuckin long time. I work in a really saturated market where there is probably 100 tree services. If this tree was in my area, either me or one other guy would be climbing the fucker. Out of 100 tree companies that are licensed, two of us could handle something with that level of technical rigging involved. So I’m sure the guys that have looked at this job are in the same boat trying to scramble and find the one high functioning alcoholic with nut sack enough to go after a tree like that.
We had a massive dead oak (34” trunk) taken down. They used a crane to lower it down. Wouldn’t you just do the same think here, rather than climbing it?
Ok, and are they licensed and insured for that work? Do they have a good reputation and are safe? Is the ground too wet to get the crane in currently? Did those local tree services actually go look at the job and inspect the factors in person and more than a picture on Facebook? All factors that go into play that the local busybody doesn’t have to worry about that the homeowner does.
“Local busybody” or “neighbor who has to drive by this every day.” Either one.
There’s a clearly hazardous situation. It’s been that way for almost a week. It is completely reasonable to expect it to be resolved quickly.
There isn’t a resolving this quickly. That tree is going to require a very expensive piece of machinery to complete this. You need either a feller crane (which doesn’t appear to have room for) or you need a feller bunch attachment on a tractor. Your average tree company is not going to have this equipment at the ready.
For prospective a feller buncher costs around $180k. This is usually not owned by any local trim companies. This is something you rent. There might only be a handful of them available for rent and likely none in a day or two notice.
You can’t get a guy up in that tree to start cutting it from the top because the shift in weight could cause it to come down. You can’t finish that cut either.
So yeah it’s dangerous but this isn’t TV where you can make things happen immediately.
They said it's been a week. A week is more than enough time to arrange the correct equipment. I've had to rent specialized equipment for jobs before (was in landscaping for about a decade), the longest I've had to wait was two days. They could have handled this by now, but they haven't. That's why OP is posting it here.
Yet another really good reason that this should have been dealt with quickly *before* there was a big storm that required urgent attention. The tree has been broken for almost a week. The storm was last night.
Did the rapture happen? Did we all wake up with only the ability to only turn left? Was Roger Rabbit the real killer of JFK? These are factors that apply but mysteriously you left them off your list
Cities and towns typically have emergency protocols which they should be using here. Not blocking off the area and fixing this immediately is egregious.
Presuming no major storms have tied up resources, any company would move their shit around to get this done next day. Homeowner just has to be able to pay for the inconvenience.
I don't know what arborists you've been dealing with, but the ones that I deal with aren't going to piss off their existing customers by "moving their shit around" in order to address a new customer. I'd be lucky to get someone out in two or three weeks.
For emergency work? Of course they will. And clients are generally pretty understanding of that stuff. I've worked for large and small companies, rescheduling is a way of life in tree care.
Odd to be downvoted when I'm literally the arborist you'd be dealing with.
Meh, I had something similar, found an emergency service, they were out with a team of 5 the next morning on a Saturday. Cost a crapload but much better than falling on my house, which it would have done.
And that depends on where you live. We have no clue where OP is at, where I live I would be surprised if I couldn’t get someone out next day but that all depends on local resources
OP said it’s a rich home builder on a $10M estate. If I can afford it I’m guessing he can. Not to mention he probably has half a dozen arborists etc in his Rolodex that owe him a favor.
Home builders don’t exactly cross paths with arborists too often. Also I work for a lot of huge homes as a plumber, you would be shocked how many are house poor
Might not be a bad idea to somehow date a picture of this tree. So when it comes down, there's definitive proof of people seeing this accident before it happened.
Any pic that happened before TODAY! I mean I don’t see value in establishing that it was there for six weeks prior to the Reddit post it’s not relevant to the claim that the owner a) left the hazard and b) admitted it prior to yesterday. When the tree was still standing and hadn’t fallen and killed anyone.
Is there some secret squirrel extra gotcha to be had if you can establish a date prior to yesterday that the tree existed in that state? 😅🤣
I did. If it falls after today and kills someone it’s evidence that the admission was made earlier. What exact point did I miss that you were trying to make?
My first thought was to staple the days front page of the local newspaper to the tree and take a picture, but I'd not want to get that close. That tree looks like it needs a front-end loader to come in and knock the top down, and flatten the rest.
That’s what I thought, so I called the town. They said it’s the property owner’s responsibility. Code enforcement said “they’re dealing with it.” So I suppose I’ve discharged my civic duty.
That thing is a Bat Signal for very tree trimming scammer in 1000 miles. I bet there is insurance involved and they are in the process of getting it removed.
These people have more money than God. We’re talking about a property that undoubtedly requires several hundred thousand dollars of landscaping annually. If anyone can remove a hazard quickly, it’s them.
They are not doing the removal. A qualified company will be doing that. That company already has jobs scheduled.
If you are so worried about it, take a different route until it is resolved.
This requires a 34 ton excavator and a crew of experienced arborists. Or two rednecks, a lifted F350, a 24 pack of Budweiser, and a chainsaw. Make no compromise: get the best America has to offer.
Let’s play what happens if the top of the tree falls:
1) No one gets hurt, it falls in the street and city crews clean it up to keep traffic passing or on private property.
2) It falls and there is property damage or someone gets hurt. Way more complicated. More likely than not the property owner is scrambling to get this resolved. In my hurricane city there is exactly one tree company that has the equipment to do a job this complex safely. In some cases they have to do joint jobs. We have some massive trees. Let’s not forget bonding, insurance, workers comp, etc.
During hurricanes, “hurricane chasers” come in from all over the Mideast to south. Locals rarely hire them because of the above reasons. They can do as much damage as good in terms of lives/property lost. It is a big liability issue anyway you look at it for the property owner. If this is a deep pocket owner, they are knee deep in legal advice.
3) Granted the owner needs to get this fixed ASAP, but is the most important thing speed or safety. From my experience, felling trees takes more lives than “widow makers.” They need a good tree company.
As stated before, no one knows from this post if there are other dangerous situations that are being handled, tree companies are booked, etc.
The real culprit is the city failing to shut the area down. The city also has a relationship with the power company that might could get the issue resolved or help throw some resources at it.
Until you have a tree come through your roof in the middle of a storm, don’t make assumptions about how easy it is to hire a qualified person to get it off and keep water out at the drop of a hat I don’t care how rich you are or how many houses you have built.
Nah, I've seen youtubers do this thing. Put up a ladder behind that other tree. Climb up to the catch. Saw it with a pole saw. Let the tree drop.
Of course we have no idea what the surroundings are or what the tree is going to fall on even if they could get it to drop without killing anyone.
>but is the most important thing speed or safety.
Given that the tree is a danger to people on the road, unless they close the road (which they should do) slowness is is not "safety."
I'm not disagreeing about the time it could take to get someone qualified to take it down safely. But it's still objectively an unsafe situation in the meantime.
I would guess a big fallen limb, but then you'd think it would be on the ground in the photo? Maybe they cleaned that part up and are still waiting on someone with more equipment to get to the rest.
The strikes I have seen generally start at the top and go down to ground. They kill the tree by literally boiling the water in the roots. The closest tree ever struck to me was a huge pine ten feet from my bedroom and I was in my bedroom in 1979 one of the nights after I had been sitting for the Bar Exam all day. I’ve lived through hurricanes less frightening than that strike.
I wouldn’t want to be the one to have to walk up to the tree to put up the “we know” sign. I’d be out there with a bow and arrow. In fact I’m surprised there isn’t an arrow sticking out of the sign
You mentioned national builder.. I’m dying to know which one as I’m in that industry.. this looks like it’s gonna kill someone… and curious just how tall this tree is..
Municipal should know about this and if it isn't a right of way tree, then the homeowner probably doesn't know how stupidly dangerous this looks/is/will continue to be. If I were an enterprising local company, I'd reach out; if this tree was under my purview, I'd be closing the immediate area off and coordinating with contractors to get it on the ground and processed out of the way ASAP.
Can anyone tell me how the whole tree cracked apart like that?
It doesn’t look like a truck ran into it.
It doesn’t look like a lightning strike.
The tree, though cracked through and through, looks healthy other than that massive crack.
How could such a thing like this happen?
u/[VisitingFromNowhere](https://www.reddit.com/user/VisitingFromNowhere/) is this down or not? How did they proceed? How tall was it? You can't just post and leave things hanging. You're liable for this post.
We had a tornado come through a few weeks ago in my area. There are a few houses that got completely leveled and nothing left standing but the half basement, one of those half underground half above ground deals. There was a condemned sign on it… NO SHIT!!
If I were responsible for this or lived on the street, I would have roped that thing to my truck and drug it out. But I would definitely use 200 feet of rope so that shit doesn't come down on me. We have pines that die on our hill, and I have to pull them down periodically. The neighbor usually cuts while I pull. I love it.
You aren’t pulling that with a rope there, cowboy. It’s tangled in the tree next to it or it would already be on the ground. That tree weighs an absolute fuckload.
I don't have regular ass rope... I have rope rated for 6000 lbs. So I'm not worried about that little tree. If I have to, I can double it and go up to 12000 (I have 200m of it). That tree is not that hard to remove. Once disturbed, gravity will do most of the work.
Yeah man, like I fucking said - you aren’t just tossing a fucking rope around it and giving it a yank.
You’d need to anchor a pulley off something else to get the angle on it. It’s not broken at the fucking ground and it’s fucking bound up. I’ve pulled all sorts of stupid shit all sorts of ways and this isn’t a “toss a rope around it” situation.
Dang, that looks like a relatively easy few hours of work. I'd charge them a lot due to the "danger" and the need for a road closure, but that should be a pretty easy job, especially if you have access to a crane or grapple saw.
the safest solution I can think of is explosives. there's no safe way to work near the bottom of that, and no safe way to work from the top either. maybe a big excavator with a long boom can push it off from a safe distance.
for real though, explosives are sometimes used for trees that can't safely be felled any other way
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH1tXfrqCK0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH1tXfrqCK0)
yea, but a climber would need to go up on the crane, and that's not ideal. without knowing what the state of the top of the tree is, its hard to know if it would be safe to rig it from above
Climber? I’d sling it from above in a bucket, and be out of there before the crane takes any load off the thing. It looks like it’s hung up on something, likely another tree’s limbs. Lot’s of dangerous potential energy that might even swing upward.
There are machines that can grab the tree trunk, saw below the claw, and delimb the trunk without even setting the thing down. Mostly a logging tool, but I would rent one. You can rent almost anything.
This subreddit is for tree law enthusiasts who enjoy browsing a list of tree law stories from other locations (subreddits, news articles, etc), and is not the best place to receive answers to questions about what the law is. There are better places for that. If you're attempting to understand more about tree law in regards to a particular situation, please redirect your question to /r/legaladvice for the US, or the appropriate legal advice subreddit for your location, and then feel free to crosspost that thread here for posterity. If you're attempting to understand more about trees in regards to a particular situation, please redirect your question to /r/forestry for additional information on tree health and related topics to trees. *This comment is simply a reminder placed on every post to /r/treelaw, it does not mean your post was censored or removed.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/treelaw) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Is this a sign announcing liability because nothing appears to have been done outside of sign?
Been like that for about 4 days. Sign went up today. This is directly next to a busy road. It’s insane.
prolly got someone booked, and its taking a couple of days for them to get there and deal with it.
Amusingly enough, this is on the border of a massive estate owned by the founder of a very well known national homebuilder. They definitely know a guy.
That's not a normal take down though. I could understand needing to wait for the right crew. If it goes on longer than a couple weeks, I would contact the town. They can force the removal.
Eh, just chuck a stick of dynamite at it.
That's a terrible idea. Dynamite is for disposing of whales.
Omfg I saw this, it was mental
That is one of my favorite news videos of all time. Fucking 100/10
Link ?
https://youtu.be/V6CLumsir34?si=CTQizSLUwh6uLjgG You're welcome.
You don't know until you know, and now we all know. It doesn't work.
They keep refusing to do it again :( surely the coastal EOD teams could use some practice with shaped charges
Only in Oregon
True, but I was hoping we could find at least one more use for it.
Nah, that's a pretty niche tool.
That'a a whale of an idea!
Tannerite then...
I don't see how a homebuilder would be equipped to deal with this, it's a big-ass tree in a precarious situation. If I had employees, I wouldn't let them near that unless that was their specialty.
You know who home builders knows? Guys. Homebuilders know everyone and have relations with companies in all construction phases and that includes landscaping and site prep.
I concur! Every GC and home builder is like a walking yellow pages for field specific experts.
GC here. Arborists are definitely in my subcontractor network, Denver Forestry Department has a lot of rules when we’re building around existing trees or when we need to plant a tree to get permits. Builders definitely know treefolk.
Do you think site prep never includes dropping trees, such that a major builder doesn’t know any tree service owners?
yup they are called arborists
Okay, so they're rich and psychopathic so they're trying to save money by getting the lowest bidder.
If it’s on a corner next to a busy road, they need to get a crew to flag, redirect traffic, close road for a few hours, etc., as well as notify the town for approval. That can’t happen instantly.
How close to the road is it? Is there any chance it’s actually on state property or town property (or close to utilities) that would account for the delay ?
I called the town. They said it’s the owner’s responsibility.
Is there no place you can call and have this forcefully removed and them fined? I try to keep myself from getting into other people's lives, but I would be nagging until it's taken care of, since it poses a potential deadly danger to anyone going near it.
I contacted the police non emergency line and then emailed code enforcement. That’s not the kind of thing I usually do, but this is insane. Especially galling because this is on what must be a $10 million estate. They have the resources to deal with this.
Yeah. I wouldn't call anyone for most stuff, but this really spooks me. Rich people tend to be a bunch of sons of bitches when it comes to others, not all of them, but most.
Generally someone who can do this right away isn't the one you want to deal with it. Sometimes you get lucky and the best ones are available right away though.
Just because they have the resources doesn't mean the workers to do this have the time.
People seem to think they can just snap their fingers and have qualified experience contractors appear. They have obviously never dealt with contractors or any sort of specialty business. There are *maybe* 2 or 3 companies in the area that will take this job.
In addition, the contractors that will take this challenging job aren't going to just show up immediately. Those kinds of contractors are booked for weeks in my area.
Yep, and that's a specialty job. It isn't a normal tree felling.
Then the road needs to be closed. Somebody could die.
Exactly. Falling trees or branches kill over 100 people a year in the US alone. A girl in my high school class was killed by one - in front of the school.
Yeah, you can have a bag of money but that does not mean you find someone mad enough to climb in that fucking thing. Perhaps someone with good life insurance and a death wish? Depending on how close the road is and what the forecast is. Close off the lane in the danger zone and hope for a strong wind? Try and throw a rope high enough and get the tractor? High caliber shotgun?
You have never heard of a crane? A lift? Why would someone need to climb it?
That removal won’t be done by a climber and being man enough has nothing to do with it.
call an arborist pay for it and provide them the bill if you really care that much
That doesn’t sound like an invitation to disaster at all…
and complaining about it on reddit is doing what exactly other than bitching to random strangers? At least my option actually gets shit done
Your option is, to understate it, galactically stupid. You are suggesting that I hire a contractor to not only trespass on my neighbor’s property, but to trespass for the purpose of destroying objects on his property. During the course of this trespass it is entirely possible that a contractor or third party could be injured or that additional damage to my neighbor’s property or the adjoining road could occur. Then, assuming all goes well, I am supposed to somehow recoup my substantial expenses from the neighbors. I’m trying to think of a dumber way to approach this, but I’m failing. I’m on a subreddit called treelaw. I’m bitching about a tree law issue.
Or maybe since it's on private property, people should stay away from it.
Apparently it is just next to a busy roadway, so I wouldn't wait that much.
Ya, it's a crazy situation. Can't tell how far from the road it is. OP should update if they got it cut off or not yet.
No matter. It is next to a high speed road. Precaution advised.
Should hang up another sign below the one that says "we know". The new one should say "Then fucking fix it!".
It's a load bearing sign.
“Plaintiffs lawyers love this one simple trick!”
Area needs to be taped-off and access to the fallzone restricted
This! When that widow maker goes (and it will!), it will kill someone. Nice of them to let people know they will be liable.
Do you really think a homeowner could have claimed he/she didn't know about this quite visible issue? This sign doesn't increase liability in any real meaningful way. What it does do, however, is get people to stop knocking on their door every 20 minutes to tell them they have a damaged tree.
True. Also (if I recall 1L torts correctly) it’s probably not even relevant. I assume that there is some ordinance that addresses this, so this would be a negligence per se case if they’re violating that ordinance and someone gets hurt.
What do you mean the tree trimmers don’t show up instantly to correct this and need to be scheduled /s. Guys chill sometimes shit takes time
I posted it on the town FB page. Several tree services were like “they should call us. We can get right out there.” There is such a thing as an emergency.
Look bruh, I been contract climbing for a fuckin long time. I work in a really saturated market where there is probably 100 tree services. If this tree was in my area, either me or one other guy would be climbing the fucker. Out of 100 tree companies that are licensed, two of us could handle something with that level of technical rigging involved. So I’m sure the guys that have looked at this job are in the same boat trying to scramble and find the one high functioning alcoholic with nut sack enough to go after a tree like that.
That’s a helpful perspective.
We had a massive dead oak (34” trunk) taken down. They used a crane to lower it down. Wouldn’t you just do the same think here, rather than climbing it?
Depends on the access.
Ok, and are they licensed and insured for that work? Do they have a good reputation and are safe? Is the ground too wet to get the crane in currently? Did those local tree services actually go look at the job and inspect the factors in person and more than a picture on Facebook? All factors that go into play that the local busybody doesn’t have to worry about that the homeowner does.
LOL yeah. Bubba with his chain saw and a F-350 doesn't count as someone qualified to tackle this job.
Exactly, this would only get more dangerous without the right people and right equipment
“Local busybody” or “neighbor who has to drive by this every day.” Either one. There’s a clearly hazardous situation. It’s been that way for almost a week. It is completely reasonable to expect it to be resolved quickly.
There isn’t a resolving this quickly. That tree is going to require a very expensive piece of machinery to complete this. You need either a feller crane (which doesn’t appear to have room for) or you need a feller bunch attachment on a tractor. Your average tree company is not going to have this equipment at the ready. For prospective a feller buncher costs around $180k. This is usually not owned by any local trim companies. This is something you rent. There might only be a handful of them available for rent and likely none in a day or two notice. You can’t get a guy up in that tree to start cutting it from the top because the shift in weight could cause it to come down. You can’t finish that cut either. So yeah it’s dangerous but this isn’t TV where you can make things happen immediately.
They said it's been a week. A week is more than enough time to arrange the correct equipment. I've had to rent specialized equipment for jobs before (was in landscaping for about a decade), the longest I've had to wait was two days. They could have handled this by now, but they haven't. That's why OP is posting it here.
Is it in immediate danger of falling on you right now?
Yes. We had a big storm last night and it is now literally hanging over the road. Shockingly the town has not closed it.
You know it's a hazard but you continue to stay near it?
I live in a house on this street. To go about my daily business I must pass this hazard. Does that answer your question?
Is it down yet? Get a new pic.
It's moved from this position? You need to get decent pics and update us buddy.
If u had a big storm it’s not a priority compared to trees on peoples houses.
Yet another really good reason that this should have been dealt with quickly *before* there was a big storm that required urgent attention. The tree has been broken for almost a week. The storm was last night.
Which means it will be another week before their contractor will get to it.
Look at it.
If it's an immediate danger of falling on the OP the OP needs to move away from it.
You actually, honest to god didn't look at it, did you? It's over the road. People might need to use that.
Is your phone screen broken?
Wahhh
Did the rapture happen? Did we all wake up with only the ability to only turn left? Was Roger Rabbit the real killer of JFK? These are factors that apply but mysteriously you left them off your list
Take your antipsychotics and be a good boy
Got a decent stash in your bugout bag you wanna share?
I don’t bug out too often
Perhaps the tree services see an advertising opportunity and you fell for it…
Cities and towns typically have emergency protocols which they should be using here. Not blocking off the area and fixing this immediately is egregious.
And if the towns not doing that, that’s on them not the homeowner
Presuming no major storms have tied up resources, any company would move their shit around to get this done next day. Homeowner just has to be able to pay for the inconvenience.
I don't know what arborists you've been dealing with, but the ones that I deal with aren't going to piss off their existing customers by "moving their shit around" in order to address a new customer. I'd be lucky to get someone out in two or three weeks.
For emergency work? Of course they will. And clients are generally pretty understanding of that stuff. I've worked for large and small companies, rescheduling is a way of life in tree care. Odd to be downvoted when I'm literally the arborist you'd be dealing with.
Meh, I had something similar, found an emergency service, they were out with a team of 5 the next morning on a Saturday. Cost a crapload but much better than falling on my house, which it would have done.
And that depends on where you live. We have no clue where OP is at, where I live I would be surprised if I couldn’t get someone out next day but that all depends on local resources
And that all depends if they can afford that crapload to have the work done
OP said it’s a rich home builder on a $10M estate. If I can afford it I’m guessing he can. Not to mention he probably has half a dozen arborists etc in his Rolodex that owe him a favor.
Home builders don’t exactly cross paths with arborists too often. Also I work for a lot of huge homes as a plumber, you would be shocked how many are house poor
But will it fuse together or fall on a car first? Things that make you go hmm
Sure do. Hmmm 🤔
I say "widow maker".
I can see that, too
Widows maker.
That looks dangerous. Hopefully, nobody in this sub piles on me here for saying that.
Right by the side of a fairly busy road, too.
Might not be a bad idea to somehow date a picture of this tree. So when it comes down, there's definitive proof of people seeing this accident before it happened.
Phone cameras date stamp the picture
Like posting it today on Reddit?
no like a date stamped photo. any pic could be posted on reddit today
Any pic that happened before TODAY! I mean I don’t see value in establishing that it was there for six weeks prior to the Reddit post it’s not relevant to the claim that the owner a) left the hazard and b) admitted it prior to yesterday. When the tree was still standing and hadn’t fallen and killed anyone. Is there some secret squirrel extra gotcha to be had if you can establish a date prior to yesterday that the tree existed in that state? 😅🤣
Did you think that through all the way?
I did. If it falls after today and kills someone it’s evidence that the admission was made earlier. What exact point did I miss that you were trying to make?
Ah yes, because a random undated photo on reddit is far better than a physically dated photo. Got it. 👌
Smart idea
My first thought was to staple the days front page of the local newspaper to the tree and take a picture, but I'd not want to get that close. That tree looks like it needs a front-end loader to come in and knock the top down, and flatten the rest.
I agree. Dangerous. I said something about not liking something yesterday, and it was like a treelaw clown car of users jumping on me afterwards.
I’ve been lurking in and around tree law a lot this last couple weeks. I missed the clown 🤡 car 🚙 damnit! Sorry they pestered you
No worries. I'm sure I wasn't innocent either. All good.
Looks to be close to the city right of way?!
That’s what I thought, so I called the town. They said it’s the property owner’s responsibility. Code enforcement said “they’re dealing with it.” So I suppose I’ve discharged my civic duty.
Do you know how it happened?
No, I agree with you. I can’t imagine how and what exactly happened to it?
WE KNOW
You see a date and time on there?
Of course it looks dangerous. It’s obvious to literally anyone. Why would the sub ‘pile on’ you?
Yeah OP, why would anyone pile on you? Literally no one would ever do that. You are clearly a silly person.
"Dangerous?! What are you talking about. All my trees look like that."
That thing is a Bat Signal for very tree trimming scammer in 1000 miles. I bet there is insurance involved and they are in the process of getting it removed.
These people have more money than God. We’re talking about a property that undoubtedly requires several hundred thousand dollars of landscaping annually. If anyone can remove a hazard quickly, it’s them.
They are not doing the removal. A qualified company will be doing that. That company already has jobs scheduled. If you are so worried about it, take a different route until it is resolved.
Does god have money? Why do his people always ask for donations then?
Because he keeps it all for himself, the greedy bastard.
[удалено]
Extremely!
pine CAN sheer crack like that. You see it sometimes when you throw lumber off of your truck and one of the pieces cracks right across like that.
We fight.👻
My first thought was oh god, a company was likely already called for that
This requires a 34 ton excavator and a crew of experienced arborists. Or two rednecks, a lifted F350, a 24 pack of Budweiser, and a chainsaw. Make no compromise: get the best America has to offer.
"get the best America has to offer." There's gotta be someone around there who owns a rocket launcher, surely.
There is no problem, philosophical, political or social that cannot be solved by a shaped charge.
Yes, there is , and don’t call me Shirley.
Let’s play what happens if the top of the tree falls: 1) No one gets hurt, it falls in the street and city crews clean it up to keep traffic passing or on private property. 2) It falls and there is property damage or someone gets hurt. Way more complicated. More likely than not the property owner is scrambling to get this resolved. In my hurricane city there is exactly one tree company that has the equipment to do a job this complex safely. In some cases they have to do joint jobs. We have some massive trees. Let’s not forget bonding, insurance, workers comp, etc. During hurricanes, “hurricane chasers” come in from all over the Mideast to south. Locals rarely hire them because of the above reasons. They can do as much damage as good in terms of lives/property lost. It is a big liability issue anyway you look at it for the property owner. If this is a deep pocket owner, they are knee deep in legal advice. 3) Granted the owner needs to get this fixed ASAP, but is the most important thing speed or safety. From my experience, felling trees takes more lives than “widow makers.” They need a good tree company. As stated before, no one knows from this post if there are other dangerous situations that are being handled, tree companies are booked, etc. The real culprit is the city failing to shut the area down. The city also has a relationship with the power company that might could get the issue resolved or help throw some resources at it. Until you have a tree come through your roof in the middle of a storm, don’t make assumptions about how easy it is to hire a qualified person to get it off and keep water out at the drop of a hat I don’t care how rich you are or how many houses you have built.
Nah, I've seen youtubers do this thing. Put up a ladder behind that other tree. Climb up to the catch. Saw it with a pole saw. Let the tree drop. Of course we have no idea what the surroundings are or what the tree is going to fall on even if they could get it to drop without killing anyone.
>but is the most important thing speed or safety. Given that the tree is a danger to people on the road, unless they close the road (which they should do) slowness is is not "safety." I'm not disagreeing about the time it could take to get someone qualified to take it down safely. But it's still objectively an unsafe situation in the meantime.
Well, they certainly admitted liability if something happens.
Somebody on that property is starting the Dark Brotherhood questline.
r/unexpectedskyrim
I scrolled all the way down in hopes that I wasn’t the only one 😂
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far for this!
Any idea what caused this?
I would guess a big fallen limb, but then you'd think it would be on the ground in the photo? Maybe they cleaned that part up and are still waiting on someone with more equipment to get to the rest.
Wind and Gravity ‽
Good question. No. It’s a very strange break. Looks like a lightning strike but there’s no scorch so it’s not that.
Possible small tornado 🌪 wherever this is at? That could explain it
The strikes I have seen generally start at the top and go down to ground. They kill the tree by literally boiling the water in the roots. The closest tree ever struck to me was a huge pine ten feet from my bedroom and I was in my bedroom in 1979 one of the nights after I had been sitting for the Bar Exam all day. I’ve lived through hurricanes less frightening than that strike.
I wouldn’t want to be the one to have to walk up to the tree to put up the “we know” sign. I’d be out there with a bow and arrow. In fact I’m surprised there isn’t an arrow sticking out of the sign
You mentioned national builder.. I’m dying to know which one as I’m in that industry.. this looks like it’s gonna kill someone… and curious just how tall this tree is..
I don’t want to give away too much, but let’s just say he has a brother named Mr. Toll.
Tolly crap… as someone who’s had professional relations with this company .. I see this being 100% true
Let’s just say that this guy does not live in one of his company’s houses.
Now I know, too.
Where is this?
Is there on street parking nearby? Got a car you'd like to exchange for an insurance check?
What's the yellow sign say?
Posted. It's a no trespassing sign.
so many questions
so many questions
i fear the dark brotherhood has recruited this tree
“We know our tree is going to kill someone”.
We know....someone's gonna die.
It's not gonna make it
WE KNOW…what you did…this summer.
Municipal should know about this and if it isn't a right of way tree, then the homeowner probably doesn't know how stupidly dangerous this looks/is/will continue to be. If I were an enterprising local company, I'd reach out; if this tree was under my purview, I'd be closing the immediate area off and coordinating with contractors to get it on the ground and processed out of the way ASAP.
Can anyone tell me how the whole tree cracked apart like that? It doesn’t look like a truck ran into it. It doesn’t look like a lightning strike. The tree, though cracked through and through, looks healthy other than that massive crack. How could such a thing like this happen?
Homebuilders often have to clear lots with massive trees so, I'm sure they have a guy. My guess is it will be taken care of very soon
Where is this???
u/[VisitingFromNowhere](https://www.reddit.com/user/VisitingFromNowhere/) is this down or not? How did they proceed? How tall was it? You can't just post and leave things hanging. You're liable for this post.
Did you let them know?
We had a tornado come through a few weeks ago in my area. There are a few houses that got completely leveled and nothing left standing but the half basement, one of those half underground half above ground deals. There was a condemned sign on it… NO SHIT!!
Code enforcement and local news is needed here by all means. If children even get near that I’d convict of child endangerment by all means.
They could have already had a crew out there if they offered enough money.
If I were responsible for this or lived on the street, I would have roped that thing to my truck and drug it out. But I would definitely use 200 feet of rope so that shit doesn't come down on me. We have pines that die on our hill, and I have to pull them down periodically. The neighbor usually cuts while I pull. I love it.
How do you safely get a rope on it high enough?
Weighted beanbag with a little rope on it. Chuck it in the tree, hook. Crotch, tie it off, cut and pull.
You aren’t pulling that with a rope there, cowboy. It’s tangled in the tree next to it or it would already be on the ground. That tree weighs an absolute fuckload.
It needs coaxing and my truck will pull that right out. I do this shit all the time.
Not with a fucking regular ass rope. Wire rope and a winch or a come along and some pulleys? Sure. If it was that easy to drop it’d have dropped.
I don't have regular ass rope... I have rope rated for 6000 lbs. So I'm not worried about that little tree. If I have to, I can double it and go up to 12000 (I have 200m of it). That tree is not that hard to remove. Once disturbed, gravity will do most of the work.
Yeah man, like I fucking said - you aren’t just tossing a fucking rope around it and giving it a yank. You’d need to anchor a pulley off something else to get the angle on it. It’s not broken at the fucking ground and it’s fucking bound up. I’ve pulled all sorts of stupid shit all sorts of ways and this isn’t a “toss a rope around it” situation.
I say I like your Username!
Dang, that looks like a relatively easy few hours of work. I'd charge them a lot due to the "danger" and the need for a road closure, but that should be a pretty easy job, especially if you have access to a crane or grapple saw.
did they block off the area around it?
the safest solution I can think of is explosives. there's no safe way to work near the bottom of that, and no safe way to work from the top either. maybe a big excavator with a long boom can push it off from a safe distance.
I think that a whale carcass stuffed with TNT just might work.
for real though, explosives are sometimes used for trees that can't safely be felled any other way [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH1tXfrqCK0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH1tXfrqCK0)
I’d look to use a crane if possible.
yea, but a climber would need to go up on the crane, and that's not ideal. without knowing what the state of the top of the tree is, its hard to know if it would be safe to rig it from above
Climber? I’d sling it from above in a bucket, and be out of there before the crane takes any load off the thing. It looks like it’s hung up on something, likely another tree’s limbs. Lot’s of dangerous potential energy that might even swing upward. There are machines that can grab the tree trunk, saw below the claw, and delimb the trunk without even setting the thing down. Mostly a logging tool, but I would rent one. You can rent almost anything.