A Tree Fell on Your House — What to Do (Step by Step)

If a tree falls on your house, get everyone to safety first, stay well clear of any downed power lines and call 911 or your utility, shut off power only if it’s safe to reach the panel, document the damage with photos, contact your insurer, and call a licensed, insured tree company for emergency removal. Tarhill Tree Service handles fallen-tree emergencies across Fayetteville, NC and the surrounding Cumberland, Hoke, Moore, and Harnett counties, with a licensed, insured crew on call 24/7. Take a breath — the next few minutes are about people, not the roof, and the steps below walk you through exactly what to do, in order, so you and your family come through this safely and your home is back in good hands.

The first 10 minutes: what to do, step by step

Work through these in order. The early steps are about keeping people safe — the tree and the roof can wait.

1. Get everyone out from under the damage. If a tree has hit the house, move everyone — people and pets — away from the rooms below or beside the impact. If you hear cracking, see a sagging ceiling, or the structure looks compromised, leave the house entirely and wait outside.
2. Stay far away from downed power lines. A fallen tree often brings a power line down with it. Treat every downed or sagging line as live and deadly — stay back at least 30 feet, keep others away, and call 911 and your utility (in this area, Duke Energy or your local co-op) immediately. Do not touch the tree if a line is tangled in it.
3. Shut off power to the affected area — only if it’s safe. If you can reach your breaker panel without going near water, the damage, or any downed line, cut power to the rooms involved. If you can’t reach it safely, leave it and let the utility handle it.
4. Do not go up on the roof. A tree on the roof has changed the load on your whole structure. Climbing up to look or to tarp it yourself is how people get seriously hurt. Stay on the ground.
5. Document everything with photos and video. From a safe distance, photograph the tree, the point of impact, every damaged room, and any belongings affected. Get wide shots and close-ups. This is what your insurer will want — more on that below.
6. Call your homeowners insurance. Report the claim and ask what they need. Don’t throw anything away yet, and don’t authorize permanent repairs until they’ve told you how the claim works.
7. Call a licensed, insured tree company for emergency removal. Getting the tree off the structure safely is a rigging job, not a chainsaw-and-ladder job. Call emergency tree removal — we respond 24/7 — and we can do emergency tarping and securing once the tree is off.

Stay away from downed power lines — this is the big one

If you take only one thing from this page: a power line on the ground can kill, even if it isn’t sparking or buzzing. The ground around it can be energized too. Keep everyone — especially kids and pets — well back, don’t drive over lines, and don’t try to move branches near them. Call 911 and your utility, and let them de-energize the line before anyone touches the tree. A reputable crew, including ours, will not cut a tree tangled in a live line until the utility has cleared it.

How to document the damage for your claim

Good photos make your insurance claim faster and smoother. From the ground and from safe vantage points, capture:

• The whole scene — wide shots showing the tree, the house, and where it landed.
• The impact point — the roof, wall, or window the tree hit, and any structural cracking.
• Inside damage — ceilings, walls, water intrusion, and any damaged furniture or belongings.
• Date and time — most phones stamp this automatically; if a storm caused it, note that too.

Keep receipts for anything you spend on emergency steps (tarps, a hotel if the home isn’t safe). For a deeper walkthrough of how trees and coverage interact, see our guide on homeowners insurance and tree removal.

Will homeowners insurance cover the tree removal?

In most cases, when a tree falls on a covered structure — your house, garage, or fence — your homeowners policy helps pay to remove the tree and repair the damage, usually minus your deductible. Coverage gets murkier when a tree simply falls in the yard and hits nothing, or when the tree was clearly dead and neglected beforehand. Every policy is different, so call your insurer first and ask specifically about debris removal and structural repair. We’re glad to provide the written estimate and documentation adjusters typically ask for — more in our insurance guide.

Why this isn’t a do-it-yourself job

A tree resting on a house is under tension and compression in ways you can’t see. Cut it in the wrong place and it can roll, drop, or spring — doing more damage to the home or hurting whoever’s holding the saw. Our crews remove fallen trees in controlled sections using ropes and rigging, taking weight off the structure before anything is freed. We’re licensed and insured, so if anything goes wrong, you’re covered — not on the hook. After a storm, we also handle full storm damage cleanup, hauling away every branch and limb so your yard isn’t left a wreck.

What Tarhill does when we get there

• Make the scene safe — assess the lean and load, confirm any power lines are dead, and rope off the area.
• Lift the weight off your home — section and rig the tree down piece by piece so nothing drops on the structure.
• Emergency tarping — once the tree is clear, we can secure an exposed roof to keep weather out until repairs.
• Full cleanup & haul-away — brush chipped, wood loaded, yard raked, included on every job.
• Documentation for your claim — a written estimate and photos your adjuster can use.

We serve Fayetteville and the surrounding counties around the clock. When you’re ready, reach out for a free same-day estimate — no pressure, no surprise pricing.

Tree-on-house FAQs