Service · After the storm

Storm cleanup — getting access back, getting it cleaned up

After a wind event or a heavy wet-snow night, the order of business is usually the same: get the driveway open, get the fence line and pasture edges clear, then deal with the rest at a more reasonable pace. We help with the parts that don't need a crane.

First, what we don't do

If it's near the house or the lines, it isn't us

Storm work brings in calls about every kind of downed tree. The honest answer up front: anything resting on a structure, leaning on a power line, hung up in another tree, or big enough to need a crane is a job for a licensed tree service with a climber. We don't do that work, and we don't pretend to. If you call us with a job that belongs to a tree service, we'll tell you and we'll point you to one we know.

What we do is the ground-level work that comes next: bucking up trees already down in open ground, clearing trees across driveways and fence lines, opening pasture edges clogged with windfall, and dealing with the brush that came down with them.

Sequencing

What to clear first

After a storm, the right order of operations is usually access first, perimeter second, the rest as time allows.

  1. The driveway. Most foothill properties have a single way in and out. One downed tree across it and the property is unreachable by an engine, a delivery truck, or a neighbor with a chainsaw. This gets cut first.
  2. The structure perimeter. Branches and small trees down within Zone 1 and 2 around the house go next, because the same wood is now ladder fuel for the next fire season. This is also when we walk through with you and flag anything that needs a tree service.
  3. Fence lines and pasture edges. Cleared third — keeping livestock in and clearing the work needed to get a fence rebuilt.
  4. The rest of the property. Bucked up and stacked over a longer window if the scope warrants it. Storm work is rarely a one-day job on rural acreage.
Material handling

Storm wood — burn pile, firewood, or hauled

Storm material breaks down into rounds and brush. Sound rounds (oak, fir, cedar) make good firewood and we'll stack them where you want them. Brush and limbs go into burn piles built properly for permit-season burning. If a job has more material than the property can absorb, haul-off is a separately quoted add-on — we'll size it after we've seen the scope.

Driveway blocked or fence line a mess? Send photos.

Storm work gets quoted from photos like any other job. We move faster on time-sensitive cleanup.

Get a photo quote