Is your tree safe after a storm? The first walk-round

The storm being over does not mean the tree has finished failing. The International Society of Arboriculture's storm brochure lists the hazards in the order they hurt people: broken limbs hanging overhead, and uprooted trees resting in other trees or on roofs, "may continue to move during and after the storm has passed." Wood under tension reacts unexpectedly when it is cut or moved. And a damaged tree can be in contact with a wire directly or through another branch.

• Downed or sagging lines

  Treat every one as live. The utility comes before any tree service, every time.

• Hangers

  A broken limb caught in the crown. Crews call them widowmakers for a reason; never stand under one to look at it.

• Spring poles

  A stem or limb bent under another load. University of Florida extension warns these can snap back and hit you or pinch the saw.

• Root-plate lift

  A raised mound of soil on one side of the trunk. The anchor has moved, and the next gust finishes the job.

Do this in daylight, from the ground, and from outside the reach of anything hanging. Work top to bottom, because the top is what falls on you.

1. Look up before you walk in. Scan the crown for hangers and torn bark on the upper side of limbs. If you can see one, the space under it is closed.
2. Trace the wires. Follow the service line from the pole to the house and check whether any branch is resting on it or tangled in it.
3. Check the forks. Clemson extension singles out stems of equal size joined at one point, often with bark pinched inside the union, as a weak spot prone to breaking. A fresh vertical crack running down from a fork is what that failure looks like the morning after.
4. Read the trunk. University of Florida extension is blunt: cracks that go well into the trunk "will not close" and are a severe defect.
5. Walk the base. Look for heaved soil, snapped roots or a gap opening at the root flare. The ISA brochure names soil heaving as one of three things to check.
6. Compare the lean. A lean the tree did not have last week is a root failure in progress. Check old photos if you are not sure.

Then do the part almost everybody skips: walk the trees that look fine. The ISA brochure says assessments after a severe storm should take in trees "seemingly not damaged," especially big ones near people or property, and check them for trunk cracks, hanging branches and soil heaving. Write down what you see on our tree risk assessment form so the record is dated.

The University of Florida's hurricane-recovery series is the most specific public triage guide we know of. Its decision factors, condensed into the call they lead to:

Two things move a borderline tree toward keeping it. Healthy trees recover better than unhealthy ones, and species that resist decay are better candidates for restoration than species prone to it. A young tree with small breaks is nearly always worth the pruning.

A weak fork you found on the walk that did not fail is a different conversation. That is where cabling and bracing earns its place, under ANSI A300 Part 3, Supplemental Support Systems. It is a planned job for a calm week, not something to rig while the yard is still full of brush.

Photographs taken before anything is cut are the cheapest evidence you will ever own. Once a crew has bucked the stem off the roof, the break point, the root plate and the angle it came down at are gone. Take them from a safe distance, then take more than you think you need.

Washington's insurance commissioner, the state regulator, gives the rules most policies follow in plain words. Take photos or video of the damage. Save every receipt, including those for temporary repairs such as tarps and plywood. Do not make permanent repairs until the insurer has seen the property and you have agreed on the work.

• Tree hits the house, garage or car

  The case where removal and cleanup can be covered. The regulator's wording: usually not covered unless the tree fell on your home, garage, car or similar.

• Tree falls and hits nothing

  Homeowner insurance usually does not pay for removal or cleanup.

• The neighbor's tree lands on your house

  Your own insurer will often pay, and you still pay your deductible.

1. Emergency services if anyone is hurt or trapped, or a tree is blocking a road.
2. The utility if a line is down or a branch is touching one. University of Florida extension is specific that only qualified line-clearance arborists should work near utilities, and a general tree crew should not be the first call.
3. Your insurer, with the photographs, before any permanent work.
4. An arborist, for the assessment and the work. ISA's free "Verify a Credential" tool confirms whether a name on a truck holds what it claims; what the credential means is in our ISA certified arborist guide.

The ISA brochure's third step is titled "Resist the urge to do it yourself," and it names the reasons: working at height, retrieving wood from buildings or from contact with utility services, and running cutting machinery. Storm debris is not ordinary firewood cutting. If you do take on the small ground-level pieces, read chainsaw safety and PPE first, and University of Florida's rule to always work with a partner. The wider trade-off is in DIY vs professional removal.

A tree that is down in the open, touching nothing, is ordinary work at an ordinary price, and it can wait for a booked day. The price changes when the wood is loaded against something: a stem on a roof, a limb hung in the crown over a bedroom, a tree resting on a line. That work is slower because every cut is planned against stored energy, and it is often done out of hours. Where that premium comes from, line by line, is in emergency tree removal cost.

To know what the premium is being added to, price the same tree as a standing job first. The crew-hour model behind that number is in tree removal cost, and the removal calculator runs it for your diameter and access. A large stem lying across a house is often a crane job, because a crane lifts the load off instead of cutting it down in pieces onto the roof. When that pays for itself is in crane vs climbing removal.