What to Do When a Tree Falls on Your House in Redwood City

Peninsula winter windstorms across Redwood City and neighboring San Carlos regularly bring down mature trees across overhead electrical service lines. Never attempt to inspect roof damage from an attic hatch, second-story window, or exterior ladder if electrical wires are down, frayed, or entangled in tree branches. Wet tree canopies, saturated wooden roof decking, and metal gutters act as highly efficient electrical conductors.

Treat all downed electrical wires as fully energized and deadly. Establish a minimum perimeter of 30 feet from any downed line or wire-entangled tree. Immediately contact PG&E at 1-800-743-5000 to report the downed service line and request emergency disconnection. Do not permit any tree removal crew to start cutting timber until PG&E line technicians or an electrical inspector confirms the service drop has been de-energized.

Removing a multi-ton tree resting on a fractured residential roof structure requires specialized physics and precision rigging. It is fundamentally different from standard ground-level tree felling. When a trunk comes to rest across rafters, the timber is under tremendous, unpredictable mechanical tension and compression. Inexperienced tree cutters who start severing limbs with a chainsaw from the roof can trigger a catastrophic secondary collapse, allowing the unsupported trunk to punch straight through ceiling drywall into interior rooms below.

Our emergency arborists deploy mobile hydraulic cranes and heavy-duty friction rigging blocks to hoist timber vertically off structural framing. By securing the center of mass with synthetic tree slings before making strategic relief cuts, we lift multi-ton log sections upward into the air without dragging heavy bark across roof shingles or transferring shifting weight onto compromised roof trusses. This mechanical precision prevents thousands of dollars in avoidable secondary structural damage.

Before any tree crew begins cutting or clearing debris, thoroughly document the incident to protect your California homeowners insurance claim. Take extensive photos and wide-angle video footage from safe ground-level vantage points around the property. Capture the tree trunk base, the point of structural failure, the angle of the lean across the roofline, and visible damage to eaves, roof decking, gutters, chimneys, and siding.

Under standard California HO-3 homeowners policies, tree damage to an insured structure (dwelling or detached garage) is covered under Coverage A, while the cost of lifting the tree off the house is covered under emergency structural preservation. Most policies also include a specific debris removal allowance. Keep all emergency invoices separate: our dispatch office provides itemized, insurance-compliant arborist invoices that clearly differentiate emergency structural extraction and safety tarping from off-site wood haul-away, ensuring your claims adjuster can process the claim without dispute.

Once the fallen timber has been lifted cleanly off the roofline, immediate weatherproofing is essential. In the San Francisco Bay Area, fallen trees almost always occur during extended multi-day atmospheric river storms. Even a few hours of rain penetration through cracked roof decking will saturate blown-in attic insulation, buckle drywall ceilings, and ruin hardwood flooring, leading to extensive mold contamination.

Our emergency crew installs commercial-grade heavy-duty tarps across all roof punctures and exposed trusses. Tarps are secured using 2x4 wood batten strips screwed directly into solid structural points, ensuring wind gusts up to 50 mph cannot rip the protective barriers away. This critical containment stabilizes your living environment until permanent roofing contractors can complete structural repairs.

Under Redwood City Municipal Code Chapter 29, trees with a trunk diameter of 12 inches or greater at breast height are classified as protected trees. When a protected tree falls or causes an imminent hazard, Redwood City allows emergency removal to protect life and property without prior permit approval, provided that photographic documentation and an ISA Certified Arborist certification are submitted retroactively to the city within 72 hours.

Following the extraction, our certified arborists perform a comprehensive Level 2 Tree Risk Assessment on all remaining mature trees on your property. Soil saturation and windthrow forces that felled one tree frequently loosen root plates or cause structural cracks in neighboring coast live oaks, redwoods, and pines that appear upright from the ground.