Emergency tree service in Hillsboro, Oregon

First hour: who to call

Minute one is about wires. If a line is down or touching the tree, call 911 and keep people and pets well back; a tree in contact with a line can be live along its full length. Portland General Electric serves Hillsboro and takes outage calls around the clock at 503-464-7777 or 800-544-1795; the utilities page has more.

Know whose wire it is. PGE trims its transmission and distribution lines, but it trims the service wire to your house only when branches are straining or rubbing it, so a tree across that drop is your call to arrange once the utility has made it safe.

Next comes triage for the crew: a trunk on the roof or across the driveway goes first, a root plate that has lifted and left a tree leaning toward the house goes second, and a limb on the lawn waits for a daylight quote. If the tree that fell stood in the planting strip, tell Public Works; Hillsboro replaces removed street trees, and the free Tree Care Permit covers that work.

Storm records for Washington County

Washington County’s record is a wind record. NOAA has logged 104 storm reports since 2016, rank 23 of 36 Oregon counties: High Wind 30, Heavy Snow 24, Strong Wind 21, Winter Storm 12, Winter Weather 5, Ice Storm 4, plus thunderstorm wind, hail and single tornado, lightning and wildfire entries. FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) scores the county’s wind risk at 80.1, rated Relatively Moderate, and its ice storm risk Relatively High.

January, February and December are the peak months, with 69% of reports between November and February. Counts are steady: 25 in the recent three years against 29 in the prior three. The county’s zones run from the Tualatin Valley up into the North Oregon Coast Range and the West Hills and Chehalem Mountains, so not every report in the table landed in Hillsboro.

NWS forecast zones covering the county: North Oregon Coast Range; North Oregon Coast Range Lowlands; Tualatin Valley; West Hills and Chehalem Mountains.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2016 to June 2026 · NWS zone-county correlation files (2019 to 2026 versions). Checked 2026-10-02. NOAA Storm Events 2016-2026; zone-based events assigned to every county the NWS zone covers using the zone-county correlation file in force on the event date (2019-04-02 file used for 2016-2018).

Insurance and documentation

Before the saw, build the insurance file. Photograph the root plate or the break, what the tree landed on, the damage inside, and the street sign or house number so the location is unambiguous. Write down the date and time the tree came down; an insurer matches that against the weather record, and NOAA’s Washington County log is where a high wind report would sit.

Ask the crew for an itemized invoice: getting the tree off the house, cutting and hauling, and grinding the stump as separate lines, since coverage often differs between them. A tree that came from a neighbor’s yard raises a different question, and the Oregon storm insurance guide covers who files.

One debris note for the paperwork: emerald ash borer is confirmed in Washington County under the Oregon quarantine, so a fallen ash leaves only as chips of 1 in or less. Keep that disposal receipt with the claim.

Full guide: storm-damaged trees and insurance in Oregon.

What emergency work costs

Start from the removal range in the table below and expect the storm job to sit at its top: a wind-thrown tree on a structure is cut in pieces with rigging rather than dropped, and crews add a call-out minimum after dark. Ask what that minimum is before anyone climbs.

BLS puts the mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro area at $35.04 an hour, with 1,160 employed across the metro. That figure is a labor index behind the model, not a quote, and the same pool covers every county in the metro when a January wind event hits several at once.

Modeled estimate, not quotes (method): crew-hours × $225 per crew-hour; ×1.25 within 10 ft of a structure, ×1.3 with no truck access; a crane day adds $1,500–$3,500; stump grinding is separate.

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 37-3013. Checked 2026-10-02.

What to do next

Tonight: 911 for a wire or an injury, PGE’s outage line (503-464-7777), photos, then a crew. This week: if the tree failed at the roots, have its neighbors checked with a risk assessment, and if one sits in the SNR overlay, Planning / Development Services (503-681-6153) can say whether removing it needs review. Check the company at the Oregon license lookup.

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