How We Can Help?
When a tree fails, it doesn’t wait for a convenient time. It comes down in the middle of the night during a storm. It lands on a roof while you’re trying to get your family out of the house. A limb the size of a small tree hangs suspended over your driveway the morning after a hurricane, and you need to know right now whether it’s safe to walk underneath it.
Emergency tree situations are different from every other kind of tree work. The timeline is compressed. The stakes are higher. And the decisions you make in the first few hours — about what’s safe, what needs to come down immediately, and what can wait — have real consequences for your property, your family, and your insurance claim.
At Horizon Arbor Solutions, emergency response is built into how we operate. As an ISA Certified Arborist, our role in an emergency is to be the calm, credentialed voice that assesses the situation accurately, tells you exactly what you’re dealing with, and helps you make the right decisions under pressure. We coordinate with our trusted field partners for same-day emergency response, and we provide the certified documentation that your insurance company will require to process your claim.
If you’re dealing with a tree emergency right now, call us. We respond.
What Qualifies as a Tree Emergency?
Not every storm-related tree situation is a true emergency — and knowing the difference helps you make better decisions in a stressful moment. Here’s how we think about urgency:
Immediate Emergency — Call Us Now
A tree or major limb has fallen on or into a structure — your home, garage, fence, or vehicle. A tree is leaning against a structure or power line. A large limb is hanging suspended in the canopy and could fall at any moment — what arborists call a “widow-maker.” A tree has partially uprooted and the root ball is lifting out of the ground. Access to your home or property is blocked by a fallen tree. You can smell gas near a tree that has fallen — evacuate immediately and call your gas provider before calling anyone else.
Urgent — Assess Within 24 Hours
A large limb has fallen in the yard but not on any structure and there are no hanging sections visible. A tree that was previously assessed as healthy is now leaning more than before the storm. Storm damage is visible in the canopy but no sections appear to be hanging or suspended. You’re seeing cracks, splits, or bark separation in a major stem that weren’t there before the storm.
Standard — Schedule a Post-Storm Assessment
The tree looks different after the storm but nothing appears to have failed. You noticed a change in the lean or canopy shape. Smaller branches are down throughout the yard. You simply want a professional eye on your trees after a significant weather event to confirm they’re still sound.
When in doubt, call us. We’d rather assess a situation that turns out to be lower urgency than have you wait on something that needed immediate attention.
Understanding Structural Defects in Trees
Before recommending any structural support system, we need to understand the nature of the structural issue. Not all defects are the same, and the appropriate response depends on what’s actually happening in the tree.
Co-Dominant Stems
The most common structural defect we address with cabling. A co-dominant stem occurs when two or more main stems grow upward from a single point without one clearly establishing dominance over the others. Over time, as both stems grow in diameter, they squeeze against each other at the junction, often forming an included bark union — a V-shaped junction where bark is embedded between the stems rather than proper wood-to-wood attachment. Included bark unions are significantly weaker than normal branch attachments and are a primary cause of major limb failure, particularly during storms.
Cabling between co-dominant stems transfers some of the load that would otherwise stress the union, reducing the risk of failure. Combined with selective pruning to reduce the weight and wind resistance of the weaker stem, this approach can significantly extend the safe life of the tree.
Long Lateral Limbs
Large limbs that extend far from the trunk develop significant leverage — the further from the trunk, the more force is transmitted to the attachment point during wind events and when the limb is loaded with rain or ice. Cabling a long lateral limb back to the trunk or to another part of the crown reduces this leverage and provides a secondary support point if the limb begins to fail.
Weak or Damaged Branch Unions
Branch unions that have been previously damaged — by storm, lightning, construction, or disease — may have reduced structural integrity even when they appear sound from the outside. Cabling can provide backup support for these unions while the tree attempts to compartmentalize and strengthen the damaged area.
Split or Cracked Trunks
Trunks or major stems that have split — whether from storm damage, lightning, or the gradual mechanical failure of an included bark union — may be candidates for bracing with threaded rods in addition to or instead of cabling. Bracing passes a threaded rod through both sides of the split, physically connecting the two sections of wood. This is a more invasive intervention than cabling but may be appropriate for trees with specific split configurations.
Trees With Previous Cable Systems
Trees that were cabled by previous owners or contractors years ago need periodic inspection — cables stretch over time, hardware can become embedded in the wood as the tree grows around it, and the structural situation may have changed. If you have a tree with existing cables and don’t know when they were last inspected, call us.