Cutting dead tree next to power pole

[Jeff]

Current situation. I have a dead ash right next to my power pole. I did a short video to show and explain my thoughts I'm thinking if I just leave it, it'll be okay. What say you?
Cutting a Dead Tree Next to a Power Utility Line? - YouTube

[Magicman]

I would make a call to the power company.  Here, they would remove/drop it.

[doc henderson]

i would take it down and make charcuterie boards out of it.  lol.  If the utility co. will do it for you, all the better.  at least pull some tension away from the pole with a cable or a come along to keep it from moving that direction.
It might just come on over.

[jb616]

If your power company is like here in GR, they won't do it unless a crew was coming by anyway. My neighbor had a tree that split and fell on the wires taking them all down to the ground and when they repaired the lines, they wouldn't even cut down the rest of the tree. I would use a hunting climbing stick and get a strap or strong rope as high as you can, notch it away from the pole, back cut but not to the point of felling and pull it over.

[Jeff]

What about as I suggest in the video? Just leave it? I'm afraid if I call the electric coop they moght take the spruce and cedar down too. They will need attention one day, but not now.

[Walnut Beast]

Absolutely leave it alone just as you said! I've seen the damage done by the county or power company. They might have good intentions but since we are here let's take a few more out. And if your not there you might come back and be fe furious 😂. 

[Jeff]

That is exactly my thoughts. The ash is sheddink it's bark already. Last yeR there were just a few spots of green on it, this year it was done.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I'm leaving mine to fall on its on. Then it is the responsibility of the cable company and not me. I, and they, know it is dead and going to fall and that it is going to do damage - it is just a case of who is responsible for the repair costs.

   I've got one on my front lot next to the road hanging over the cable lines. One fork has already fallen on an old yard fence there. Unless I get a cable and snatch bloc on it it will definitely fall on the cable and the rest of my fence. The only other direction it will fall on the road.

   I cut a poplar top out yesterday about 35 yards away and only managed to drop the cable even more and blocking the road and had to rush to tie it up before the first passing car hit it. Murphy definitely lives in WV.

[chet]

Judging by the picture, the chances of that tree ever causing harm to that tri-plex are almost nil. 

[rusticretreater]

I had a tree next to a power line that was leaning and over the years I watched it get closer and closer to the power line.  I even had pictures showing the movement.  I called the power co-op and told them about it. Never heard a thing about it.  Of course, it fell after a heavy rainstorm and took out the line.

They came and took the tree and restrung the lines.  I found out afterwards. I'm wondering if its just easier for them to do that instead of trying to get a truck, the rigging, the high wire act and the folks to do it all.  Then again, maybe they don't have the resources to apply until its an emergency situation.

[doc henderson]

routine tree care here is done by contracting companies.  the emergency is done by the company.  after a big ice storm, they come from states all over.  I want my line cleared all the way back to the power company, so we and others do not spend a week without power next winter.

[Ron Wenrich]

My experience with the power company now is when they come through and trim the trees.  I had a Siberian elm that was growing under the lines.  They would come by and trim it every few years, since it sprouted and grew into the lines.  They came in and asked about trimming the tree, and I said why not cut it down.  They had the forester look at it and he gave approval as long as they didn't have to remove the trunk.  They brought a crew in, cut the tree down in chunks, and chipped the limbs.  Took them all day.  But, this was during their normal trimming.  On logging jobs, they would come out, but that was before they contracted out all the trimming.

My experience with dead ash is that you'll lose all the small dead limbs early on.  You'll be left with a pole with branches.  That might make it shorter than the lines on the power line.  Dead trees usually come down in sections.  A larger problem with ash is that the roots also rot.  Eventually the wind will either knock the tree down at the roots or somewhere up the body.  I had one that was rotten further up and didn't want to drop it on the neighbors.  It heavy wind knocked it down in pieces.  It wasn't even good enough for firewood.

[kantuckid]

The rule here of our power co-op is 20' from the lines but they'll make a few feet of exception. They send out the tree contractor not a company crew. 
I cut a pine two years back for sawing. Not long afterwards a co-op guy drives his truck down into the pasture where I'm taking trees off the edges and says "I hear your powers off". I reply that I'm down here where there is no power, so I'll take his word for that.
What I'd done was cut a tall pine that the tip had barely brushed the line which set off the trip switch cutting power. He re-set it and all was well. 
FWIW, I have an agreement with the co-op that they'll use no herbicides on me and take down no trees unless talking to me first, but that doesn't preclude me from asking them to remove a tree I've seen dead and close to power. We have 6 pole service coming in.
 

[doc henderson]

most of the guys are decent folk.  It is best to find the foreman or you may get the kid who started 3 days ago and if he is smart he will just look at you like he speaks a different language.  most will take a little more or less as long as it does not add hours to their work.  I am sure there are power company folks that follow behind to check the work.  The goal is to not be out in the winter to get power back on.

[Ron Wenrich]

The last time the crew come through to use herbicide and cut trees next to the high power line, the foreman spoke broken English.  I pointed out that they were spraying herbicide next to a waterway (pond), and the foreman either didn't understand or didn't care.  I don't think any of the others spoke English.

I don't have any problems with the crews that work around homes.  They always give a forewarning that they're going to be working.  Not so for crews working on the high power lines. 

In our area, all the power utility companies have a utility forester that oversee operations.  Often a good contact source.

[Corley5]

  I've got a dead elm at the end of the driveway that needs to be removed.  It needs to come down from the top down.  It'll get the main line or the line coming to the house otherwise.  I need to call Great Lakes Energy and get it on their list.  I wouldn't even consider taking it down myself.

[SwampDonkey]

Was 18 months getting one taken down here. It was a contractor for the utility. The road here, where it borders woods, is completely overgrown, and the corridor has never been cleared in decades. They have cleared what we call 'cross roads' but not this road, which is not a 'cross road'. They pick and chose, with no logic to it, which roads get maintained. You're more likely to have your road cleared if you're 10 miles out on a dirt road with one other house besides you. That's how silly it is. :D

During the pandemic they refused all danger tree removal requests. Ok, whatever.  :D

[Big_eddy]

Is it your line or theirs? Around here, the property owner is responsible for maintaining any line from the road to the house. Once a year at no charge, I can ask for the power to be turned off for line maintenance. They come turn it off and tag it out. I call when done. They maintain the line along the road, but I am responsible for the branch line that crosses our property from the end of the drive to the pole by the house. Of course I can pay an arborist to maintain the line while the power is off and I think Hydro may have an option to pay them too.  

I've done it once in 30 years, but it's getting time to do it again. I have a spruce that self prunes on windy days. 

[chet]

Over the years I have worked for or with many different utilities. Each will have it's own protocol in dealing with line clearance, and in many cases different districts within the same company. It pretty much boils down to who is doing the risk/cost/benefit determination, and their priorities.  With requests for danger tree removals, sadly many times it boils down to who is making the request. 

[kantuckid]

Is it your line or theirs? Around here, the property owner is responsible for maintaining any line from the road to the house. Once a year at no charge, I can ask for the power to be turned off for line maintenance. They come turn it off and tag it out. I call when done. They maintain the line along the road, but I am responsible for the branch line that crosses our property from the end of the drive to the pole by the house. Of course I can pay an arborist to maintain the line while the power is off and I think Hydro may have an option to pay them too.  

I've done it once in 30 years, but it's getting time to do it again. I have a spruce that self prunes on windy days.

The elec service drop is mine from the last pole to my home, the rest is the co-op's responsibility. As a customer I don't operate or maintain power lines on my property. What private property owner (not the rich folks or a business) has the ability to maintain long runs of electric power? Makes no sense to me.
 
 If I hadn't been broke at the time I hooked on, I'd have buried that last drop. 
 OTOH, if I wanted NG hookup, the cost for the line & placement, from a property line is 100% my cost and thus very unaffordable as it's ~ a 1/2 mile or so. My water service is my own from the base of our property on paved public road at the meter hole up to my home. 

[thecfarm]

Not that it matters. 
I had the tree trimming crew come up my driveway to trim some limbs off the red oaks.
I wanted him to really give it a trim job so he would not have to come back. He only did a little.  :(
Then a friend had a small maple many feet from the power lines on his front lawn. The way they trimmed it, they will not have to come back again to trim it. 

[Old Greenhorn]

I would consider how far that pole is from the road or access point and how hard it would be to work on with snowpack. Yes, probably that tree will not take out the line, especially after it sheds more branches (1-3 years?).
 If it were mine I might wait until late fall early winter, just before the snows come, rope it just in case, then drop it. No better firewood than ash in my book. But that's just an opinion. I don't see a NEED to do that. You are correct, it's a crapshoot choice from what I can see.

[doc henderson]

our power is underground to the house, but when I built the shop in 2005, we went overhead.  never liked it as it was 150 feet to a pole.  the mast was 2/3rds up the length of the building so the wire sagged and was only a few feet off the guttering.  an ice storm knocked a branch onto it and bent the mast and distorted the roof jack.  they fixed it temporarily by taking slack out of the line.  no charge.  later I put the 3-inch conduit in the ground, and they came later and pulled wire underground and hooked it up.  took out the old line.  they were happy it went underground.  no charge that I recall (my wife pays the bills), due to damage in a storm and they wanted all underground now.  

[beenthere]

As Chet mentioned, treat the line crews well. They will remember the "next" time they are needed for some extra help.
Our electric power is above line from the transformer to a pole, then underground to the house. Had a dead oak leaning over that drop and $600+ to have the tree lowered using a bucket. Utility said last fall that there would be no charge to drop the line so I could get the tree down but there was a 2-3 month backlog for a crew to do that. In April signed up for June 16 to do the drop. Heavy wind damage in the area kept all the crews busy so June 28 the crew dropped the line, waited for me to drop the dead oak (video posted Felling leaning dead oak ) then put the line back up no charge. Turned out an extra crew with two more trucks showed up thinking it was their job and they called it "the big tree drop" so hung around 'till it was down on the ground.
Big Tree drop

So handed out three packages of venison Landjaegers this time, so's they remember 8)

[kelLOGg]

If it was my property I'd put a come-along on it and pull it away from the pole and cut it. It looks small enough to do it that way.