Emergency Service - 24/7
If a tree is on your roof, blocking your driveway, or hanging over a power line - a dispatcher answers right now. We triage by hazard level: structural impact first, access blockage second, standing hazard trees third.
(517) 793-5658 - Call Now| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| Tree on the roof, porch, or any structure | Call immediately |
| Tree or limb blocking the driveway or street | Call immediately |
| Tree split at trunk, still standing, leaning toward structure | 24-48 hour window |
| Limb down on or near a power line | Call your utility first (BWL in the city, Consumers Energy outside), then us |
| Large limb down in backyard, away from structures | Non-urgent - schedule within the week |
| Full tree down in open area with no structural risk | Non-urgent - schedule at your convenience |
Lansing averages 51 inches of snow per season across roughly 42 snowy days between November and April. The city is east of the primary lake-effect snow belt - meaning it gets more ice events relative to snowfall than Grand Rapids. Ice loading is what breaks trees.
Peak emergency call windows: January-February (ice storms, heavy snow), March (freeze-thaw cycling with wind events), June-July (summer thunderstorm microbursts). We keep crews available through the full winter season and don't scale back staffing in February.
Electric service around Lansing is split between two utilities, and calling the wrong one costs you time in an emergency.
Inside the city of Lansing, the utility is the Lansing Board of Water & Light. Use the outage number on your bill or at lbwl.com.
Outside the city, across much of Ingham and Eaton County, the utility is Consumers Energy. Their emergency line is 800-477-5050.
Treat every downed line as energized. Stay back at least 25 feet, keep others away, and call 911 if a line is arcing, burning, or across a road. We do not touch conductors. Once the utility has de-energized or cleared the line, we handle the tree.
Get everyone out of the affected rooms. If a tree is on the roof, the rooms beneath it are the risk. Structural load can shift hours after impact, especially as snow or ice on the canopy melts or refreezes.
Photograph everything before anything moves. Wide shots showing the tree and the structure together, then close-ups of the damage. Include a shot that establishes where the tree stood. This is the single most useful thing you can do for your claim, and it takes two minutes.
Shut off gas or power if the meter or mast is hit. If you can do it safely from outside. If not, leave the property and call the utility.
Do not start cutting. A fallen tree is under load, and the direction that load releases is not obvious from the ground. Storm-felled trunks are where most chainsaw injuries happen, and a tree resting on a structure is holding the structure up as much as it is damaging it. Cutting the wrong limb drops the roof.
Leave a hanging limb alone. A broken limb lodged in a canopy, called a hanger, can release with no warning. Rope off the area beneath it and stay out.
The rule most homeowners get wrong: coverage generally follows the damage, not the tree. Policies differ, so verify yours, but the usual pattern in Michigan looks like this.
| Scenario | Typically covered? |
|---|---|
| Tree hits your house, garage, or fence | Yes, damage plus removal, subject to deductible and a per-tree cap |
| Tree falls in the yard, hits nothing | Often not covered. Removal is usually yours |
| Tree blocks your driveway or a handicap ramp | Frequently covered even without structural damage |
| Neighbor's tree falls on your house | Usually your policy, unless the tree was documented as hazardous beforehand |
| Tree was already dead or diseased | Often denied as deferred maintenance |
Removal-only coverage is commonly capped somewhere around $500 to $1,000 per tree, which does not go far on a large hardwood on a roof. Know your cap before you assume the job is fully covered.
That last row is why documentation matters year-round. If you know a neighbor's tree is dead and leaning toward your house, put it in writing to them now. It changes the liability picture before anything falls, not after.
For a structural emergency, typically two to six hours. During a major regional ice event, when every crew in Ingham County is committed, it can be longer, and we will give you a straight answer on the phone rather than a number we cannot hold.
Call 911 or the road commission first, particularly if lines are involved. A tree blocking a public road is a municipal or county responsibility. If it originated on your property and is blocking your own drive, that is our call. See who is responsible for tree removal in Lansing.
Emergency work is priced higher than scheduled work. It runs after hours, in bad weather, under difficult conditions, with more rigging. You will get the number before we start. We do not use a storm as a reason to invent a price on arrival.
Lansing runs seasonal brush collection and sometimes adds special pickups after major storms, with rules on length and placement. That covers debris at the curb. It does not cover getting a tree off your house.
Not if the situation is unsafe. Policies expect you to prevent further damage, and every insurer we deal with accepts emergency mitigation before an adjuster arrives. Photograph everything first, keep the invoice, and get the tarp on. Waiting three days with an open roof creates water damage that becomes its own argument.
We get emergency covering over the opening once the tree is off so the structure is not taking weather. Permanent repair is a roofer's job, and we will tell you honestly what the opening looks like once it is exposed.
After every major Michigan ice event, out-of-state crews work neighborhoods door to door. Some are fine. Many are uninsured, and if one of them is hurt in your yard or drops a limb through your garage, that becomes your problem. Before anyone touches a tree on your property, ask for a certificate of insurance naming both liability and workers' compensation, and ask for a local phone number. Anyone legitimate hands it over without hesitating.
We respond throughout Lansing, East Lansing, Okemos, Haslett, DeWitt, Holt, Mason, Grand Ledge, and the rest of Ingham and Eaton County, through the full November to April storm season.
