Emergency tree removal in Melbourne: what to do first and how fast help comes

The call usually comes in the first hour after the wind drops. A limb is through the carport roof, a gum has gone over onto the fence, or a tree is leaning on the house and nobody knows whether it will hold. Api gets these calls every spring, and emergency tree removal in Melbourne is less about speed than people think and more about doing things in the right order: people away, powerlines respected, photos taken, the insurer told, and then the right crew with the right gear. This guide sets out the steps to take after a tree falls, who does what between VICSES and an arborist, how an urgent make-safe runs on the day, and what a storm-damaged tree changes about the way it comes down.

Api Mariner is a qualified arborist with more than 16 years on the tools across Melbourne's west, the inner suburbs and Geelong. He takes calls 7 days from 6am and puts hazards first, and what follows is the advice he gives on the phone, written down so you have it before the next storm rather than in the middle of one.

When a tree comes down in a storm: the first ten minutes

Storms are the Victoria State Emergency Service's main work. VICSES responds to around 20,000 requests for assistance from storms every year, roughly 80 per cent of everything it is called to ^[1]. Much of that damage comes from branches, trampolines and outdoor furniture turned into projectiles, from cars parked under trees, and from overhanging limbs coming down ^[1]. A tree on the fence in Werribee is one request in a queue of thousands on a bad night, which is why the first ten minutes belong to you and not to anyone you can phone.

Nothing about a fallen tree gets worse in the next quarter of an hour, but a person walking under a hanging limb or towards a downed line can be hurt in a second. The order matters more than the speed.

Who does what: VICSES, triple zero and the arborist

People ring Api asking whether they should have called the SES instead, and the honest answer is that the two do different jobs. VICSES is the storm emergency service: its number for storm assistance is 132 500, and for a life-threatening emergency the call is triple zero ^[1]. VICSES crews deal with the immediate threat to people and property. They do not take the tree away, grind the stump or put the backyard back together, and after a major storm they are working through thousands of jobs by risk.

An arborist does the rest, and on private property with nobody in danger the arborist is usually the whole of the emergency tree removal call. If you have never had to hire one, the guide to finding tree removal near you covers what to look for, and the short version on a storm day is insured, qualified, and able to tell you the method before they start.

Powerlines: the 8 to 10 metre rule

Nothing on this list matters more. Energy Safe Victoria's advice after a storm is to keep at least 8 to 10 metres away from any fallen powerline, because you do not have to touch a line to receive a shock and a fallen or broken line can still be conducting ^[2]. VICSES gives the same figure and adds the rule Api repeats on every job: always assume a line is live ^[1]. If you see someone hit a powerline, stay at least eight metres back and call 000 rather than go to them ^[4].

The reason is physics rather than caution. Safe Work Australia's guide to tree work says that contact with an electric line can be fatal whether it carries 400,000 volts or 230, and that a flashover or arc can electrocute a person who is merely close to a conductor ^[5]. A wet branch resting across a line is part of the circuit, and on hot days powerlines sag, so the gap between a tree and the wire can be smaller than it looks ^[4].

The tree on your side of the fence is yours to keep clear of the service line to your own house, but any tree growing into the powerlines outside your boundary, or into a neighbour's service line, is the electricity distribution business's job to clear ^[2]. Trees touching or close to powerlines are pruned only by authorised powerline contractors, not by a general arborist ^[3]. When a storm has dropped a tree onto a street line, Api's first call is to the distributor, and the tree waits until the line is made safe.

What to photograph for the insurer before anything moves

The insurer's rules shape what an arborist can do on day one, so they come before the chainsaw. The Insurance Council of Australia's advice after a severe storm is to contact your insurer as soon as possible, to tell them straight away if there is roof damage, and to document the damage with photos and videos before the clean-up starts ^[6]. The part most people miss is the next line: speak to the insurer before you authorise any building work, including emergency repairs, and ask for their permission in writing, because unauthorised work may not be covered ^[6].

That does not stop a make-safe. It means the site is photographed first, the insurer is told what is about to happen, and the arborist writes down what was done and why. Api's crew photographs the tree before, during and after for exactly this reason, and those photos go to you.

Most home and contents policies cover storm damage, including lightning, strong wind, rainwater and hail, and if you are unsure what you hold the answer is in the product disclosure statement ^[7]. The detail of what your policy covers and what it does not is worth reading once, on a dry day, because a tree that has damaged something insured is a claim and a tree you simply want gone is an invoice. If the storm has left you in urgent financial need, you can ask the insurer to fast-track the claim and make an advance payment within five business days of showing that need, and you do not need your policy papers, only your name, address and date of birth ^[6].

How fast emergency tree removal help comes

Here is the part nobody likes to hear: on the night of a big storm, every arborist in Melbourne is getting the same call at the same time. Api takes calls 7 days from 6am and prioritises hazards, which means the tree on the house goes ahead of the tree on the lawn, and the limb over the footpath goes ahead of the one in the back corner. He does not promise same-day work to anyone, because a promise like that is only kept by pushing someone else's dangerous tree down the list.

What speeds emergency tree removal up is the information you give on the phone. Api can sort a job from a description and three photos sent by text: what the tree is resting on, whether there is a powerline near it, whether it is still standing, and whether the chipper and truck can get to it. A tree lying stable on a lawn is a different call from a tree hung up over a bedroom, and telling him which one you have gets the right one seen first.

There is also the weather itself. Energy Safe Victoria's advice is to avoid pruning in high winds, and no responsible crew puts a climber or an EWP up while the storm that broke the tree is still blowing ^[3]. The first jobs go in as the wind drops, so a tree that comes down at midnight is usually looked at from first light, and Api will tell you honestly where you sit rather than guess.

I had some large trees at the front of my property that needed to be removed and also two small stumps . I contacted Ap’s tree removal on Wednesday and within the hour he replied wanting to come out and have a look but that day didn’t suit for myself. We then organised a time that suited and on Friday it was a quick decisions from myself there and then and he started to remove the trees. I couldn’t speak highly enough of this business , He is professional, he goes above and beyond, the quality of work is outstanding, they also clean up the mess afterwards. Api was on time both Friday and today and all round such a great friendly guy. He also had a little cheer squad who were watching him cut down the trees and he even gave them a pair of ear muffs each to protect their little ears. So if you need trees cut, and stumps grinded this company is the one . 😄😄 thank you Api and crew

How an urgent make-safe runs on the day

A make-safe is a removal done in a different order, with a different set of questions. Safe Work Australia's guide says that before anyone accesses a tree, a competent person such as a qualified arborist should carry out a visual assessment of its overall condition and structural integrity, and that an exclusion zone should be set up below and near the tree, with signs, barriers and supervised access ^[5]. WorkSafe Victoria says the same thing from the other direction: plan and prepare, and inspect each tree individually to decide the safest method ^[8]. On a storm job that assessment is most of the job, because the tree is no longer the shape it was.

Two rules from that guide come up on every storm job. Tree trimming and removal work should not be done from ladders, and on a broken tree the ladder is leaning on the very thing that is about to move ^[5]. And the woodchipper gets the same respect as the tree: the operator stands to the side of the infeed chute and feeds branches butt end first, because the hazards include being drawn in by the rollers and struck by ejected material ^[5].

Making a hanging limb safe

The most dangerous thing after a storm is often the one that has not fallen yet. A limb that has split at the trunk but is caught in the canopy, or is resting on the roof with its weight held by a few centimetres of green timber, is what the trade calls a hanger, and it is more likely to hurt someone than the tree already on the ground. It looks stable. It is not.

Making a hanger safe is rigging work. The limb is tied off from above or from the EWP before the holding timber is cut, so the crew controls the drop. The cut is made knowing which side of the break is in tension and which is in compression, because a limb under load can pinch the saw, kick, or swing back into the operator. This is the difference between a lopper and an arborist in a single job: a lopper with a ladder cuts the limb where they can reach it and hopes; an arborist works out where the weight goes before touching it.

The stakes are not theoretical. WorkSafe Victoria reported a coroner's finding that 31 people died in Victoria from tree felling or related activity between January 2012 and September 2018, and that 13 of those deaths were at work, which leaves 18 people who were not on the job at all ^[8]. WorkSafe's guidance note lists the reasons the industry loses workers every year: working at height, chainsaws, falling objects, chippers and overhead powerlines ^[9]. Every one of those is worse on a broken tree.

What a storm-damaged tree does to the method

A healthy tree is removed the way it grew: climb it, take the canopy off in sections, drop the trunk in lengths. A storm-damaged tree has been loaded by the wind in ways nothing planned for, and three things change.

First, the tree is usually not climbable. Split stems, cracked unions and a lifted root plate mean the trunk cannot be trusted to hold a climber, so the crew works from the EWP or from the ground, and a tight side gate can decide whether the tree comes down in a morning or across two days.

Second, the timber is under load. A trunk resting on a roof is a beam with a house holding one end up. Cut it in the wrong place and it rolls, drops or springs, so the crew cuts in an order that releases the load gradually, often taking the weight off the structure with rigging before the first cut.

Third, everything is wet and everything is in the way. Chainsaw operators wear cut-resistant leg protection and hearing protection as standard, and on a storm site they are working on wet timber with debris underfoot ^[5]. VICSES warns that heat, fire or recent storms make trees unstable and more likely to fall in the next one, which is why Api looks at the standing trees around a fallen one before the crew packs up ^[1]. The tree that came down is the one you can see. The one next to it took the same wind.

Used to clear fallen trees and remove shrubs. Left the yard clean and tidy. Fitted in with a time which suited me. Prompt contact.

After the make-safe: the clean-up, the stump and the paperwork

Once the tree is safe the rest is an ordinary job: chip the branches, load the timber, sweep the site, and grind the stump. There is a real saving in having the stump ground out at the same time, because the grinder is already on the truck. Storm jobs produce more green waste than a planned removal, because the whole canopy comes down at once.

The paperwork is where storm jobs surprise people. A tree that has already fallen is a different conversation from a damaged tree that is still standing, and Api still checks the council position on your title before a standing tree is removed. Since 15 September 2025 every Victorian planning scheme has carried the canopy-tree clause, which requires a permit to remove, destroy or lop a canopy tree (over 5 metres tall, a trunk over 0.5 metres around at 1.4 metres, a canopy at least 4 metres across) anywhere on a vacant residential lot, or within 6 metres of the street frontage or 4.5 metres of the rear boundary of a lot with a house on it ^[10]. A storm-damaged tree that has to come down for safety is exactly where the council and the arborist need to be talking, and Api would rather make that call than have you find out later.

Whose tree it was does not change the make-safe, but it changes who pays, and that is between the two households and their insurers. Where a neighbour's tree has come through your fence and the conversation is getting difficult, the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria offers free, voluntary and confidential mediation on 1300 372 888 ^[11].

One more warning. Consumer Affairs Victoria's advice is to be wary of people who knock on your door offering cheap deals on jobs around your home, and after a storm those door-knockers are out in numbers ^[12]. Ask for a certificate of currency for public liability insurance, a full name and a physical address before anyone starts a saw ^[12]. The same guide to what tree removal costs in Melbourne applies to a storm job as to a planned one: the tree, the access and the hazards set the price, not the emergency.

Before the next storm: what Api would do now

Melbourne's storm damage is not spread evenly through the year. At Melbourne Airport the wettest months on average are November at 62.4 mm and October at 55.7 mm, against a July average of 35 mm ^[13]. Spring is when the calls come, and the work that prevents them is done in the months before, when the calendar is quieter.

VICSES's advice is to trim back trees and branches away from the home and to park the car under cover or away from trees ^[1]. Energy Safe Victoria adds that trees and shrubs should be cleared before they grow to within one metre of the insulated service line to your house, and that only low-growing species belong near powerlines ^[3]. None of that is complicated, and all of it is cheaper in August than in November.

What Api's storm call-out includes

Every urgent job from our tree and palm removal service starts with the same conversation: what is the tree on, is there a line near it, and is anyone in danger. From there Api gives an honest answer on timing, assesses the tree himself, and makes it safe with the gear the tree needs: rigging, the EWP where it cannot be climbed, the chipper and the truck. The site is photographed for the insurer, the work is a fixed written price covering the make-safe, the removal, the chipping, the clean-up and the green waste unless it says otherwise, and the stump is listed separately. Fully insured, the crew that quotes is the crew that turns up, and the standing trees next to the fallen one are looked at before anyone leaves.

That is how emergency tree removal should work in Melbourne: not a promise of minutes, but the right calls in the right order, and a qualified crew that makes a dangerous tree safe without anyone getting hurt.