- If you're planning to trim trees near any power lines, we urge you to consult a professional tree-trimming service.
- Pole-to-pole overhead power lines carry high-voltage electricity. Each year, a number of amateur tree trimmers are seriously or fatally injured because they, their tools or the tree limb they touched came in contact with a power line. Don't put yourself in this dangerous situation.
- Maintaining clearance around the service drop (the wires that run from a utility pole to a home) is the property owner's responsibility. Although the voltage running through the service drop is much lower than that of the pole-to-pole wires, we recommend you hire a professional tree service to do this trimming as well.
Teach Your Children About Electrical Safety
- Tree climbing is a favorite childhood pastime. Teach your children to walk all around a tree to make sure there are no power lines passing through or near it before they climb. In a fully leafed tree, it's easy to mistake a power line for a safe handhold. Also, extra weight on a branch can cause it to touch a power line and become a dangerous electrical conductor.
- Never build a tree house in a tree growing near power lines.
- Remind your children that a tree is not a safe shelter in a lightning storm. A tall, wet tree can attract electricity by acting as a lightning rod.
