Emergency tree service in Seattle, Washington

First hour: who to call

Work through the first hour in order. Get everyone out of rooms under a damaged limb, keep back from any wire, and call 911 if a line is down; report the outage to Seattle City Light at (206) 684-3000. Photograph the scene before anything is moved.

Only then call a crew. Seattle’s code still applies after a storm: emergency and hazard removals are permitted, with a replacement tree, and SDCI bills them at half the Land Use hourly rate, while dead-tree removals carry no fee. Hazard work must be done by a registered provider with a TRAQ-qualified assessor.

Storm records for King County

The trend in King County cuts both ways. NOAA logged 32 storm reports in the most recent three years against 54 in the three before, a drop of about 40%, yet the November 2024 windstorm shows one event can still flood crews with calls.

Across 133 reports, heavy snow (68) leads, and 84% of reports fall between November and February. FEMA’s National Risk Index rates ice storm risk Relatively High at 91.1 and winter weather at 94.7, so plan on snow- and ice-broken limbs as the usual emergency. More context on the King County page.

NWS forecast zones covering the county: Cascades of Snohomish and Northern King Counties; Cascades of Southern King County; City of Seattle; Eastside; Foothills and Valleys of Central King County; Foothills and Valleys of Pierce and Southern King Counties.

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

Insurance claims turn on paperwork. Photograph the tree, the damage it caused and the stump or root plate, note the date and time, and keep every invoice. The written hazard assessment a registered provider produces under Seattle’s TRAQ rule also documents the tree’s condition for your insurer.

Policies generally treat a tree that damages a covered structure differently from one that just lands in the yard; the Washington storm insurance guide walks through it.

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

What emergency work costs

Storm work prices above a planned job because crews are pulled into regional events at the same moment, and damaged trees under tension need extra rigging. The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area has about 310 tree workers by BLS count, a small pool for a metro this size when wind takes down trees region-wide.

The modeled range below assumes those conditions. See fallen tree removal for what the work usually involves.

Modeled estimate, not quotes (method): crew-hours × $210 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

Once people and lines are safe, document, then call. Ask whether the company is on SDCI’s registry and confirm its license with the license lookup guide before paying a deposit. For trees that survived but look hurt, book a risk assessment once the rush is over.

Back to tree service in Seattle · Emergency tree service across WA and OR · Emergency tree service in Washington · cost guide.