Storm Damage Cleanup in Northglenn, CO

A wet spring snowstorm on trees in full leaf, or a fall wind event out of the foothills, can leave a Northglenn yard looking like a logging site: limbs across the lawn, a cracked branch hanging over the driveway, and a pile of brush that is not going to fit in the green bin. Arbol De Fuego Services does the whole cleanup, from the hangers still in the tree to the last rake pass, across Northglenn and the north Denver metro.

Call (720) 210-3718 or send us a photo of the damage. We give you a written estimate on site before we start.

What’s Included

• Broken and hanging limbs cut free and lowered safely
• Torn stubs cut back to the branch collar so the tree can seal the wound
• Downed limbs and brush on the ground bucked, chipped, or loaded
• Split or cracked branches that survived the storm but will not survive the next one removed
• A quick check of the rest of the canopy for damage you cannot see from the ground
• Everything hauled, the yard raked and blown clean
• Firewood rounds or mulch chips left on request

If the storm brought a whole tree down or put one on the house, that is emergency tree removal and it comes first.

Why the Cleanup Should Include the Tree

The pile on the ground is the visible problem. The bigger long term problem is what the storm left in the canopy. A limb that tore off a cottonwood leaves a ragged wound with a strip of bark peeled down the trunk. Left alone, that wound does not close, water and insects get in, and in a few years you have decay in the main stem. A hanger that stayed up in the tree comes down on its own the next windy day, usually onto whatever is underneath. Cleanup done right means someone goes up into the tree, makes proper cuts, and takes the hangers down on purpose. That is the part of the job a chainsaw on the ground cannot do.

Storms in the North Metro

The north Denver metro gets two kinds of tree breaking weather. The spring storms in March, April, and May drop heavy, wet snow on trees that have already leafed out, and the extra weight on long horizontal limbs snaps them. Siberian elms and cottonwoods, which are everywhere in older Northglenn, Federal Heights, and Thornton neighborhoods, are the worst for this because they grow fast and brittle. The fall and winter wind events that funnel out of the foothills hit Broomfield and Westminster hardest and take out dead ash and over extended spruce and pine. After either kind of storm, the calls come in clusters, so the sooner you reach us the sooner we can get you on the list.

Our Process

1. Call or text. Tell us what is down and whether anything is hanging over the house, the driveway, or a neighbor’s property.
2. Site visit and written estimate. We look at the ground and the canopy and give you one number for the whole cleanup.
3. Hangers first. Anything still in the tree that could fall comes down before we touch the ground pile.
4. Cut backs. Torn limbs get a clean cut at the collar.
5. Chip and haul. Brush goes through the chipper, logs are loaded, and the yard is raked.

Signs Your Trees Have Storm Damage You Cannot See

• A limb that is green on the outer end but sagging lower than it did before the storm
• A crack at the union where two big stems meet, sometimes with fresh light colored wood showing
• Bark stripped or bruised on the upper side of a limb where another branch fell across it
• New sprouts growing straight up from a limb the following summer, a sign the limb was damaged and is trying to compensate

If you are not sure, have us look while we are on site for the cleanup. It costs nothing to ask and it can save a tree.

Service Area

We handle storm damage cleanup in Northglenn, Thornton, Westminster, Federal Heights, Broomfield, Commerce City, and surrounding Adams County communities. For routine work that keeps trees from breaking in the first place, see tree trimming and pruning.

Can I just leave the broken branches for the city to pick up?

Northglenn and most Adams County cities run limited branch pickup after major storms, usually with size limits and a schedule that fills fast. Most homeowners end up hauling to a drop site or paying a hauler anyway. We cut, chip, and haul in one visit and also fix the torn limbs still on the tree, which pickup does not do.

Do you fix the tree or just clean up the mess?

Both. The pile on the ground is the easy part. The torn stubs and hangers left in the canopy are what cause decay and the next failure, so we cut those back to a proper collar cut while we are there.

How soon after a storm can you come?

Hazard calls come first, then cleanup. In a big regional storm we work through the list in the order calls came in. Call (720) 210-3718 as soon as you know what you have, and text a photo if you can.

What does storm cleanup cost?

It depends on how much material there is, how many trees need cuts, and whether anything is hanging over a structure. We give a written estimate on site. Combining the cleanup with the trimming the tree needed anyway is usually the most economical way to do it.

Can you leave the wood?

Yes. If you want firewood rounds or chips for mulch, tell us and we will leave them where you want them. Otherwise everything goes.