A Fallen Tree Hung Up in Another Tree Is the Dangerous Kind

After a storm on the Volusia coast, the trees that get everyone's attention are the ones on houses. The ones that scare experienced tree people are the ones that did not make it all the way down: a pine snapped off and caught in the crown of the oak next to it, or a whole laurel oak leaning at forty-five degrees with its top tangled in another tree.

Loggers call it a hung tree or a hanger, and it is the single most dangerous situation in tree work. It is also exactly the kind of thing a homeowner with a chainsaw decides to deal with on Saturday morning.

Why it is so dangerous

A tree on the ground has already released its energy. A tree that is hung up has not. It is a heavy object suspended by whatever it is caught on, with the trunk under bending and compression load and the base still partly attached or resting on the ground. Every part of it wants to move.

What goes wrong:

• Cutting the trunk releases the base. The butt kicks back, sideways or straight at the person cutting. It can also drop and then swing.
• The top lets go. The tree it is caught in flexes as weight shifts, and the hung tree slides, rolls or falls in a direction nobody planned for.
• The supporting tree fails. The tree holding it up was not designed for the load. Limbs break under the weight, sometimes days later.
• Barber chair. A leaning trunk under tension that is cut incorrectly splits vertically up the stem and the upper section slams down and backward. It happens faster than a person can react.
• It comes down on its own. Wind, rain weight, or the supporting limb giving up. A hung tree over a walkway or a driveway can fall at any moment without anyone touching it.

The rule in professional tree work is that nobody works under a hung tree, and nobody cuts on it without a plan to control where it goes. See Hanging Limbs Are the Most Dangerous Thing in Your Yard After a Storm for the related problem of limbs caught in the canopy.

What to do if you have one

• Keep everyone out of the area it could fall into, which is larger than it looks: the full length of the tree in any direction it could swing, plus the reach of the tree holding it.
• Do not park under it, walk under it, or let kids near it.
• Do not cut on it. Do not push on it with a truck. Do not pull it with a rope tied to a bumper.
• If it is over the road or a neighbor's property, tell them.
• If it is near a power line, call the utility.
• Call a tree service and describe it accurately: what fell, what it is caught in, and what is underneath.

A hung tree over an occupied area is a genuine emergency, near the top of our emergency response triage, because it is a failure that has not finished happening.

How it is brought down

Every hung tree is different and the plan is made on site, but the tools are:

Pull it down under control. A line is set on the hung tree, run through a block, and pulled with a winch or a vehicle at a safe distance, with the puller and everyone else outside the fall zone. The tree comes free and falls where the line directs it. This is the preferred method when there is room.

Cut it down in sections from a safe position. A climber or a bucket truck in the supporting tree, or a crane, cuts the hung tree from the top down, lowering each piece. This is used when the tree cannot be pulled free without damaging something.

Lift it off with a crane. Where a crane can reach, picking the hung tree off the supporting tree and setting it down is the cleanest and safest option, and on a residential lot it is often the only one. See When a Crane Is the Right Way to Remove a Tree.

Roll it off with equipment. A loader or excavator can sometimes push the butt of a hung tree so it slides free, from outside the fall zone.

Cut the supporting limb. Sometimes the right move is to remove what it is caught on, from a safe position, so the hung tree falls on its own.

What is never done is a person standing at the base of a hung tree cutting it with a chainsaw and hoping.

Afterward

Once the hung tree is on the ground, the supporting tree needs a look. Limbs that held a tree for two days have been loaded far past what they were built for and often have cracks at the attachment. Deadwood may have broken loose and be hanging. The tree trimming afterward is usually crown cleaning and inspection of the limbs that took the load.

Frequently asked questions

The tree has been hung up for a week and has not moved. Is it stable?

No. It is waiting. Wind, rain weight and the slow failure of whatever is holding it all change the balance. Some hung trees fall the day after the storm and some fall a month later. None of them are safe to be under.

Can I cut the top out of the supporting tree to free it?

That is a plan, but not one for a homeowner. Cutting the supporting limb releases the hung tree in whatever direction it wants to go, and the person cutting is in the tree with it.

Is a hung pine worse than a hung oak?

Pines are more likely to barber chair because of their straight grain, and they snap rather than uproot, so they are often hung high with the butt on the ground. Both are dangerous. A hung pine is the one we see most in Port Orange and Deltona.

Will insurance cover removing it?

If it is threatening a covered structure, often yes. If it is in the back of the lot threatening nothing, often not. Ask your insurer and photograph it before it comes down.

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ArboristRX brings down hung trees and storm damage across Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange, Oak Hill and Volusia County, 24/7. Call (386) 444-5959 and stay out from under it.