A Tree on the Wires or Across the Street: Who to Call First in Palatine
The right first call depends on what the tree is touching and who owns it, and getting the order wrong can be dangerous or expensive.
Wires first, always
If any part of a fallen tree touches a wire, the utility comes before everyone else. ComEd tells customers not to touch or try to move downed lines and to consider every downed line energized and extremely dangerous. Its outdoor safety advice keeps people and everything they carry at least 10 feet from power lines, and it warns that electricity can jump from a line to a person or a tool. A limb resting on a service drop, the wire from the pole to the house, falls under the same rule.
The same distance appears in federal rules. OSHA's 1910.333 requires workers who are not qualified for line work to keep themselves, and the longest conductive object they might touch, at least 10 feet from unguarded, energized overhead lines of 50 kV or less. A private tree crew, however experienced, stays outside that distance until ComEd has cleared the line or cut the power. Work closer in belongs to utility crews or to arborists qualified for line clearance under ANSI Z133.
Most tree-caused outages do not start with dead trees. ComEd has written that most of them come from seemingly healthy branches that break and fall onto lines, which is why its advice is to call before any trimming near its equipment rather than after something breaks.
A parkway tree or a limb across the street
Once the wires are out of the picture, ownership decides the next call. Palatine's Forestry Division, part of Public Works, plants, trims and removes all of the village's parkway trees, more than 25,000 of them. A parkway tree lying across a street or sidewalk is village property and a village job, so the call goes to Public Works, not to a private crew with a saw.
Brush is a separate matter after a storm. The village does not run an automatic pickup after storms; its brush collection page says the village manager decides whether special pickups are needed after major storms. Until one is announced, the regular limits apply: from April through November, bundles no longer than 4 feet and no heavier than 60 pounds on garbage day, tied with cotton twine, sisal or similar material.
Neighboring towns handle their own trees. In Arlington Heights, broken parkway branches go to Public Works through a service request, and in Hoffman Estates the village maintains every parkway tree and asks residents not to trim them. The town pages on this site, such as the one for Hoffman Estates, explain each town's rules.
A yard tree on the house, garage or car
A tree that stood on private property is the owner's to clear, and this is where a private crew and an insurer come in. Before anything is cut, photograph the tree where it lies, the roof, the siding and any interior damage, because the insurer will want to see what happened. Then call the insurer and get a written scope from the crew, even when the work cannot wait.
The Insurance Information Institute says a standard homeowners policy covers the damage when wind, lightning or hail drops a tree on the house or another covered structure, such as a detached garage, and that it generally pays to remove that tree up to a set limit that depends on the insurer. The policy responds no matter who owned the tree. If the tree hit nothing the policy covers, there is generally no coverage for removing it, and damage traced to poor maintenance is not covered.
A crew's first task on a roof is to take the weight off without adding damage: checking whether the root plate still holds, finding wood under tension, and lifting or lowering the tree in sections, sometimes with a crane. The emergency tree service page covers that sequence and how storm rates compare with normal ones.
What can wait a day
Some jobs should not be rushed. Stump grinding is one: JULIE's rule covers any project that disturbs the ground, and state law calls for notice at least 3 but no more than 10 days ahead, weekends and holidays excluded. Burning the brush should not happen at all, because Illinois EPA rules do not allow landscape waste to be burned where it was produced in counties of more than 400,000 people, and Cook County is many times that size.
Hiring in a hurry is the other risk. The ISA's hiring brochure warns against people who go door to door offering bargains, and recommends proof of insurance, confirmed by calling the insurer, more than one estimate, references and a written contract. The certificate of liability insurance and the proof of workers' compensation should both name the company that will do the work.
Oaks add one more wrinkle. A limb torn from an oak between mid-April and mid-October leaves a wound that attracts the sap beetles carrying oak wilt, so the Morton Arboretum advises painting such wounds with a nontoxic dressing and sterilizing tools between cuts.
Why the order matters
Recent storm records show why these calls come up. The August 10, 2020 derecho brought a measured 62 mph gust to O'Hare and estimated gusts of 60 to 70 mph in Schaumburg, and NWS Chicago logged more than 160 damaging wind reports that day, along with 15 tornadoes in its area. The storm left at least a million customers without power across its path, some for more than two weeks.
On July 15, 2024, the Chicago office confirmed 32 tornadoes, a record for a single event, though none of the confirmed tracks crossed Palatine. On July 27, 2026, severe storms brought down power lines in Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect and put large branches on wires in Wheeling. For a Palatine owner, the useful habit is the same each time: wires to ComEd, parkway trees to the village, yard trees to a crew and the insurer, and everything else once the ground is safe. Routine tree service in Palatine can wait until then.
Yard tree down with no wires involved? Describe it, and independent crews around Palatine will reply with prices.
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Quick Answers
Should ComEd be called about a limb on the line to the house?
Yes. ComEd asks customers to contact it before any work near its lines and to have lines de-energized before work nearby, and it says every downed line should be treated as energized. Keep people and tools at least 10 feet away and report the problem. A private crew deals with the rest of the tree only after the utility has made the line safe.
Who pays to remove a neighbor's tree that fell on a garage?
Usually the garage owner's own homeowners policy responds first. The Insurance Information Institute says coverage applies no matter who owns the tree, as long as a covered peril such as wind, lightning or hail brought it down on a covered structure. The insurer may then seek repayment from the neighbor's insurer. Removal is covered up to the policy's limit, and neglect is not covered.
Can an owner cut up a fallen yard tree without a crew?
Small, loose branches on the ground, away from any wire, are a reasonable owner job. Storm wood is dangerous, though, because bent limbs and trunks store tension that releases when cut, and anything on a roof or near a line belongs to a crew. Cut brush has to meet the village limits for pickup, bundles up to 4 feet and 60 pounds, and none of it can be burned.
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