24/7 Emergency Response · Jefferson & Shelby County
Emergency Tree Removal in Birmingham, AL
Tree on your house, blocking your driveway, or leaning after a storm? Our crews are dispatched around the clock across Birmingham and the surrounding metro. Call now for an emergency assessment.
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
(205) 947-1603Power lines involved? Do not touch the tree or the line. Assume every downed line is energized. Call Alabama Power at 1-800-888-2726 — or 911 if a line is sparking or someone is hurt — before anyone approaches the tree.
What Counts as an Emergency Tree Removal?
Emergency tree removal is the immediate, unscheduled removal of a tree or limb that poses an active threat to people, buildings, vehicles, or utility lines. It differs from standard tree removal in that the work cannot safely wait for a scheduled appointment — the hazard is already in motion.
The practical test is simple: if the tree could cause further damage or injury before a normal appointment, it is an emergency. A dead tree standing in the back corner of your yard is a planned removal. That same tree leaning over your child's bedroom after a storm is an emergency.
Most emergency calls in Birmingham fall into one of two categories. Either a tree has already failed — it's down, on a structure, or across a driveway — or it is visibly about to fail, showing a fresh lean, lifted root plate, or a cracked trunk. Both warrant an immediate call rather than a scheduled quote.
If you're unsure whether your situation qualifies, describe it to us on the phone. We'll tell you honestly whether it needs a crew tonight or can wait for a scheduled visit — and we won't charge emergency rates for work that doesn't need them.
Call immediately if you have:
- A tree or large limb resting on your house, roof, garage, or vehicle
- Any tree or branch touching, leaning on, or tangled in power lines
- A tree blocking your driveway, a road, or an emergency exit
- A fresh lean that wasn't there before the storm
- Soil lifting or cracking around the base — the root plate is failing
- A split, cracked, or partially snapped trunk still standing
- Broken limbs hung up in the canopy above a walkway or play area
Tree Down? Do These Five Things First
Order matters here. Doing these in sequence protects your family, protects your insurance claim, and keeps you from accidentally voiding coverage before an adjuster ever sees the damage.
Get everyone clear
Move people and pets out of any room beneath the impact. If the roof or ceiling is compromised, if you smell gas, or if the structure is visibly shifting, leave the house entirely and call 911. A tree that has stopped moving is not necessarily a tree that has finished moving.
Treat every line as live
If any part of the tree is touching a power line — or if a line is down anywhere near the debris — stay away from all of it and call Alabama Power at 1-800-888-2726. Alabama Power's own guidance is to assume a downed line is energized, never touch it, and never drive over it. No tree crew can legally or safely begin work until the utility secures the area.
Photograph before you touch anything
Take wide shots showing the whole tree and the whole structure, then close-ups of every point of damage — roof penetrations, cracked ceilings, damaged siding, ruined belongings. Do this before any cleanup starts. Adjusters pay on documented damage, and once the tree is gone, the evidence goes with it.
Call your insurer's 24-hour claims line
Open the claim the same night if you can. Ask three specific questions: whether emergency tarping and board-up are covered, what your debris removal limit is, and whether you have loss-of-use coverage if the home is uninhabitable. Most policies also obligate you to prevent further damage — which is why step five can't wait until morning.
Call a licensed emergency tree crew
A tree resting on a structure is holding weight. Cutting it in the wrong order releases that load and can drop the rest of the tree through your roof. This is rigging and crane work, not chainsaw work. Call us at (205) 947-1603 and we'll walk through what you're looking at before anyone touches it.
What not to do
Don't climb onto the roof to inspect. Don't cut limbs off a tree that's under tension. Don't hire a door-to-door crew that shows up after the storm asking for cash up front — insist on proof of liability and workers' comp insurance, and an itemized written invoice. Without both, an injury on your property can become your liability.
Not sure what you're looking at?
Describe it to us over the phone and we'll tell you whether it's safe to wait until morning. There's no charge for that conversation, and we'd rather talk you out of an unnecessary emergency call than sell you one.
📞 Call our 24/7 emergency lineWho to Call, Depending on Where the Tree Fell
Who is responsible — and who pays — depends entirely on where the tree landed. This is where most Birmingham homeowners lose time on the phone. Here's the correct number for each situation.
| Situation | Who to call | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Anyone injured, gas leak, or a line sparking | 911 | Emergency services first, always. Everything else waits. |
| Tree or limb on a power line | Alabama Power — 1-800-888-2726 | Available 24/7. They de-energize and clear the line. No private crew can work until they've secured it. |
| Tree blocking a City of Birmingham street | (205) 254-6345 | Birmingham Public Works clears blocked public roadways. Report the street name and nearest cross street. |
| Fallen tree in unincorporated Jefferson County | MyJeffCo app | Jefferson County directs residents to report fallen trees through the MyJeffCo app. |
| Non-emergency city question or missed pickup | 311 / (205) 254-6314 | Weekday city services line for follow-ups, not for active emergencies. |
| Tree on your house, garage, car, or yard | Birmingham Tree Care Pros — (205) 947-1603 | Private property is the owner's responsibility. This is where we come in — extraction, tarping coordination, and full debris removal. |
Suburbs run their own after-hours lines. Mountain Brook, for example, routes weekend and overnight tree emergencies through its police non-emergency line at (205) 802-2414 and keeps arborists on staff for tree inspections. If you're outside Birmingham city limits, check your municipality's public works page — or just call us and we'll help you find the right number.
What Alabama Power and the City Will Not Do
This catches almost every Birmingham homeowner off guard, and it's the single most common reason people end up calling a tree service two days later than they needed to.
When a storm brings a tree down across a power line, Alabama Power will cut through it — but only enough to replace the poles and re-energize the line. Their published policy is explicit: disposal of the resulting wood, limbs, and debris is the property owner's responsibility. The crew restores your power and leaves. The tree stays in your yard.
The City of Birmingham won't fill the gap either. City bulk collection does not haul trees or limbs cut down by private contractors, and residents are specifically told not to place contractor-removed trees at the curb. Municipal crews clear public roadways so traffic can move — they are not a residential cleanup service.
So what does that leave?
The utility won't haul it. The city won't haul it. If a tree came down on your property in a Birmingham storm, removal and disposal land on you — and that's true whether the tree started in your yard or your neighbour's.
This is exactly the work we do. Our emergency service includes extraction, cutting to length, and complete haul-off — so you aren't left with three tons of oak on your lawn and no legal way to get rid of it. If you also want the stump gone, we handle that through our stump grinding service in Birmingham.
Power's back on but the tree's still in your yard?
That's the most common call we get after a Birmingham storm. We'll clear it and haul it — call for a same-day assessment.
Tree on Your House? Who Pays in Alabama
The question every homeowner asks first — especially when the tree grew in someone else's yard. Alabama's answer is more settled than most people expect.
Alabama follows what's known as the Massachusetts Rule. In plain terms: when a healthy tree falls because of wind, storm, or another act of nature, responsibility for removal and repair falls on the owner of the property where the tree lands — not the property where it grew. If your neighbour's healthy oak comes down on your roof in a thunderstorm, that is generally your claim to file with your own insurer.
The exception is negligence. If the tree was dead, diseased, or visibly hazardous, and the owner knew or reasonably should have known, liability can shift to them. In practice this usually still starts with a claim on your own policy — your insurer may then pursue the neighbour's insurer to recover what it paid, including your deductible.
![](https://birminghamtreecarepros.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/tree-on-house-storm-damage-birmingham.webpalt="Storm-damaged)
| Situation | Who generally pays | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your healthy tree falls on your house | Your homeowners policy | Storm damage to a covered structure, minus your deductible. |
| Neighbour's healthy tree falls on your house | Your homeowners policy | Massachusetts Rule — the tree's origin doesn't change who files. |
| Neighbour's dead or hazardous tree falls on your house | Your policy first, then possible recovery | If negligence can be shown, your insurer may pursue theirs. Written warning beforehand is what usually makes this stick. |
| Tree falls in your yard, hits nothing | Usually you, up to any debris limit | Many policies cap or exclude cleanup when no covered structure was damaged. |
If you're worried about a neighbour's tree right now
Put it in writing before it falls. A dated email or letter describing the hazard is the single most useful document you can have if that tree comes down later — it's what turns "I told him about it" into evidence of negligence. Photos of the dead limbs, dated, help too.
If you want an objective opinion on whether a tree is actually hazardous, our ISA Certified Arborists in Birmingham provide written condition assessments. Homeowners use these both to warn a neighbour and to support a claim. You can also read our guide on how to tell if a tree is dying in Birmingham.
This is general information about how Alabama typically handles fallen-tree disputes, not legal advice. If a claim is denied or the damage is significant, talk to an Alabama attorney about your specific situation.
Our 24/7 Emergency Tree Services
Birmingham Tree Care Pros provides emergency tree removal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout Birmingham, Homewood, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook, Trussville, Bessemer, and Pelham, Alabama.
Tree on a House or Roof
Sectional dismantling and crane-assisted extraction to lift the tree off the structure rather than dragging it. We coordinate emergency tarping so the opening is covered before the next rain.
Storm Damage & Fallen Trees
Uprooted trees, snapped trunks, and wind-thrown pines cleared and hauled off. Read our full guide to storm tree damage in Birmingham, or see emergency tree service in Homewood.
Blocked Driveways & Access
Trees across driveways, private roads, and gates cleared so you can get your vehicle out and emergency services can get in.
Hazardous Leaning Trees
Trees with a fresh lean, lifted root plate, or split trunk taken down under controlled rigging before they fail on their own.
Hanging Limb Removal
Broken limbs hung up in the canopy — "widowmakers" — removed from above walkways, driveways, and play areas.
Insurance Documentation
Itemised written invoices, dated photographs, and a written scope of work formatted for your adjuster. Provided as standard, not as an add-on.
Once the emergency is resolved, we can handle the follow-up work too — scheduled tree removal for anything else on the property that's now visibly compromised, tree trimming and pruning to reduce the risk before the next storm, and stump grinding to finish the job.
What Emergency Tree Removal Costs in Birmingham
Emergency work costs more than scheduled work — after-hours dispatch, heavier equipment, and higher risk. Here's the honest range so you're not walking into it blind.
| Scenario | Typical range | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Fallen tree, clear yard access | $300 – $800 | Already on the ground. No climbing or rigging needed. |
| Standing storm-damaged tree | $500 – $1,500 | Height, lean direction, and what's underneath it. |
| Tree on a house or vehicle | $1,500 – $3,500+ | Load-bearing extraction. Sectional rigging to avoid further damage. |
| Crane-assisted removal | Add $500 – $1,500 | Required when there's no safe drop zone or the tree is on a structure. |
| After-hours / emergency premium | 25% – 150% over standard | Overnight, weekend, and holiday dispatch during peak storm demand. |
These are typical Birmingham market ranges, not quotes. Access, tree species, proximity to structures and lines, and whether debris haul-off and stump work are included all move the number significantly. The only accurate figure comes from someone looking at the tree. For non-emergency pricing, see our detailed Birmingham tree removal cost guide.
On a desktop? Try our free cost calculator
We built a free Chrome extension that estimates tree removal cost by tree height, with options for stump removal and an emergency surcharge — a ballpark figure in about ten seconds. If you're reading this on your phone during an emergency, skip it and just call us.
Want a real number instead of a range?
Call and describe the situation. For emergencies we'll give you a verbal estimate on-site before any work begins, and a written itemised invoice for your insurer afterwards.
What Happens When You Call
No hold music, no ticket number. Here's exactly how an emergency call runs from the moment you dial.
We triage on the phone
You describe what happened and where the tree is. We tell you immediately whether this is a call-911-first situation, an Alabama Power situation, or a job we can take — and whether it genuinely needs a crew tonight.
We give you a realistic window
Not a promise we can't keep. During a widespread storm event, every crew in Jefferson County is committed and honest timing matters more than a fast answer. We'll tell you where you sit in the queue and call you if it changes.
On-site assessment and verbal estimate
The crew lead walks the site, identifies load-bearing sections and hazards, and gives you a price before a saw starts. If the scope changes once work is underway, you hear about it first.
Controlled removal and full cleanup
Sectional dismantling with rigging or crane support, then debris cut, loaded, and hauled away. We leave with the wood, not with it stacked on your lawn — and you get an itemised invoice and photos for your claim.
Emergency Service Across the Birmingham Metro
We respond to emergency tree calls throughout Jefferson and Shelby Counties. If your municipality isn't listed, call anyway — we cover more of the metro than we can fit here.
Birmingham
City-wide emergency coverage. Blocked public streets go to Public Works at (205) 254-6345; everything on private property comes to us.
Homewood
Mature Water Oaks in Edgewood and West Homewood are the metro's most storm-prone species, and the Shades Creek corridor amplifies wind damage. Full detail on our Homewood tree service page.
Hoover
Large-lot properties with heavy pine stands — the trees most prone to wind-throw in Alabama storms.
Vestavia Hills
Steep, wooded terrain and narrow driveways. Access assessment is usually the first thing our crew lead checks.
Mountain Brook
Established canopy over historic homes. After-hours municipal issues route through the police non-emergency line at (205) 802-2414.
Trussville, Bessemer & Pelham
Full emergency coverage across the eastern and southern metro, including unincorporated Jefferson County.
See the full list of communities on our areas we serve page.
Emergency Tree Removal FAQs
Emergency tree removal is the immediate removal of a tree or limb that poses an active threat to people, buildings, vehicles, or utility lines. It includes trees that have fallen on a structure, trees blocking driveways or roads, trees touching power lines, and standing trees with a fresh lean, split trunk, or lifted root plate. If waiting until a scheduled appointment could allow further damage or injury, it qualifies as an emergency.
Call 911 first if anyone is injured, you smell gas, or a power line is sparking. If the tree is touching a power line, call Alabama Power at 1-800-888-2726 and stay away from the tree until they arrive. Once the scene is safe, photograph the damage, call your homeowners insurance claims line, and then call a licensed emergency tree service. In Birmingham you can reach Birmingham Tree Care Pros 24/7 at (205) 947-1603.
Usually yes, when the tree damaged a covered structure such as your house, garage, or fence. Standard Alabama homeowners policies typically cover the structural repair plus removal of the tree from the structure, minus your deductible. Coverage is far more limited when a tree falls in your yard without hitting anything — many policies cap debris cleanup at a set amount or exclude it entirely in that scenario. Check your specific policy and ask your insurer about emergency tarping and debris limits when you open the claim.
Emergency tree removal in Birmingham typically runs $300 to $800 for a fallen tree with clear yard access, $500 to $1,500 for a standing storm-damaged tree, and $1,500 to $3,500 or more when a tree is on a house or vehicle. Crane-assisted extraction adds roughly $500 to $1,500, and after-hours emergency dispatch typically adds 25% to 150% over standard rates. Access, tree size, and proximity to structures and power lines all affect the final figure — an on-site look is the only way to get an accurate number.
Alabama follows the Massachusetts Rule, so a healthy tree that falls in a storm is generally the responsibility of the property owner where it lands — even if it grew next door. The exception is negligence: if the tree was dead, diseased, or obviously hazardous and the owner knew or should have known, liability can shift to them. In practice you still typically file with your own insurer first, and they may pursue the neighbour's insurer to recover costs. Written notice to your neighbour before the tree falls is usually what makes a negligence argument work.
No. Alabama Power will cut through a tree that has fallen across a power line in order to restore service, but their policy states that disposal of the resulting wood, limbs, and debris is the property owner's responsibility. The City of Birmingham clears trees blocking public streets, but city bulk collection does not haul away trees cut down by private contractors. Removal and disposal from private property is the homeowner's responsibility — which is the work we handle, including full haul-off.