PDX Tree Service

A loud crash wakes you up. You look outside...

and there's a tree where your driveway used to be.

Your first instinct might be to grab a flashlight and see if you can start clearing branches.

Don't.

If power lines are involved, stay well away and call your utility company or emergency services immediately.

If anyone is injured, that comes first.

Once everyone is safe, take a few photos from a safe distance. They can help with insurance later.

Only then is it time to call an emergency tree service.

One thing many people don't realize is that a tree that has already fallen can still be dangerous. Branches under tension, unstable trunks, and partially uprooted root systems can shift without warning.

If a tree's trunk grows directly on the property line between two homes, it's not your tree or their tree.

Legally, it's both, a shared tree, owned jointly by both property owners, whether either of them agreed to that arrangement or not.

Which means neither neighbor can remove it, prune it significantly or even treat it for disease without the other's consent. One person's chainsaw isn't enough, legally, it takes two signatures.

If one neighbor cuts it down anyway, without agreement, that's not a landscaping decision. That's property damage against a co-owner and it can be treated as such with real financial liability attached.

And it's more common than people think decades-old trees planted near a fence line before anyone thought to measure exactly where the trunk would end up.

The tree doesn't know where the property line is. the law still holds both owners responsible for it.

Trees don't always show obvious signs before they become hazardous.

A leaning trunk, dead branches, visible decay, or damage after a storm can all be warning signs that shouldn't be ignored.

I made this infographic to highlight some of the most common signs of a hazardous tree and explain why early action can help protect both your property and the people around it.