As a commercial property owner or developer, ignoring tree hazards or a fire hazard caused by trees is never an option. Trees are an integral part of your landscaping environment, but we cannot forget the hazards associated with them. Autumn is a good time to identify any hazard trees on your property. Winter can bring storms that will render potentially hazardous trees dangerous, or cause them to fail.
Leaning, lopsided trees may pose a hazard especially if the lean is more than 15 degrees from vertical. Trees that have grown leaning are not as hazardous as trees that were originally straight, but later developed a lean due to wind or root damage.
Large decay pockets and decay where branches meet the trunk can also indicate serious structural problems. Mushrooms or conks growing on or at the base of a tree are signs of decay-causing fungus.
Other tree hazards to look out for are weakly attached branches and deadwood. Trees with splits, cracks, and/or several branches arising from the same point on the trunk may also present problems as do dead branches, or deadwood which eventually fall. Branches thicker than two inches can cause serious damage when they fall. Dead branches which are broken but still hanging from the tree are especially dangerous.
These dead branches can also become a fire hazard during a storm. A grass fire can easily catch on and grow from dead and dry branches still attached to live trees.
A professional landscaping and arborist company can help you identify these tree hazards and fire hazards, and take care of them for you – for a better landscape appearance and safer living and working environment.
