Trees don’t fail on a schedule. A summer thunderstorm at 2 AM, an ice storm in February, a windstorm on a Sunday afternoon- when a tree comes down on your house, your car, or across your driveway, you need help fast. Dixon Trees LLC runs a real 24/7 emergency line for the Lexington area and the broader Midlands. When you call, you get a person, not a voicemail.
Call (803) 678-9997 any time, day or night, for emergency tree response.
When to Call for Emergency Tree Service
Not every fallen branch is an emergency, but these situations are- and they shouldn’t wait until business hours:
- A tree has fallen on your house, garage, or other structure.
- A tree has fallen on a vehicle.
- A tree or large limb is blocking your driveway, the road, or an essential access point.
- A large limb is hanging in a tree, ready to fall.
- A tree is leaning that wasn’t leaning yesterday.
- Visible cracks have opened in a major trunk or branch union after a storm.
- A tree is in contact with a power line.
For the last one- anything touching a power line- call your utility first (Dominion Energy, Mid-Carolina Electric, or Newberry Electric depending on where you are). The line has to be confirmed de-energized before any tree work can start. Once it’s safe, we’ll handle the tree.
Fast Response, Real Equipment
Emergency response isn’t just about answering the phone. It’s about showing up with the right people and the right equipment to make a damaged property safe again. Our emergency crews bring cranes when needed, full rigging gear, chippers, dump trucks, and the safety equipment to work in compromised trees that are full of trapped tension and hidden cracks.
Storm-damaged trees are some of the most dangerous trees to work in. They’ve already failed once. Trapped tension can release violently when the wrong cut is made. Limbs that look secure can come down without warning. This is the kind of work where the difference between a TCIA-accredited, OSHA-certified crew and a chainsaw cowboy isn’t just paperwork- it’s whether someone gets hurt.
Working With Your Insurance Company
If the damage to your property is covered by homeowners insurance, we handle the billing side directly. Dixon Trees offers:
- Direct emergency billing to your insurance company where applicable.
- Work directly with insurance adjusters on the customer’s behalf.
- No money up front for insurance-covered work.
- Written assessments and itemized estimates suitable for claims.
- Photo documentation of the damage and the removal process.
Most homeowners insurance policies cover removal of a tree that’s damaged a covered structure. Some also cover removal of trees blocking access to the property. Coverage varies- call your insurance company to confirm what your policy includes. On our end, we make the documentation side as easy as we can.
What Happens When You Call
Here’s what to expect when you call our 24/7 line for emergency tree service:
First call
Tell us what’s happened, where you are, and whether there’s an immediate safety issue. We use that information to figure out how fast we need to be there and what equipment to bring.
Crew dispatch
For true emergencies- trees on structures, blocked access, hazards over people- we dispatch a crew immediately. Response times depend on weather conditions, distance from Lexington, and how many calls we’re handling, but we move as fast as we safely can.
On-site assessment
When the crew arrives, they walk the damage, identify what’s an immediate hazard and what can wait, and walk you through the plan. For larger jobs, you’ll get a quote before we start cutting.
Make safe first, clean up second
Our first job is to make whatever’s actively dangerous safe- a leaning tree, a hanging limb, a tree blocking a critical access point. The full cleanup follows after the immediate hazards are handled.
Complete cleanup
Brush chipped, wood hauled or stacked, debris cleared. We don’t leave a half-done job.
Why Midlands Storms Are Especially Hard on Trees
The Lexington area gets hit with the full range of Southern weather, and each kind of storm finds a different weakness in local trees. Summer thunderstorms bring microbursts- sudden downdrafts of cold air that hit ground level at 60 to 80 mph and snap trees that handled years of normal wind without trouble. Late summer and fall bring the remnants of tropical systems pushing inland; even after the wind weakens, saturated soil makes uprooting much more common. Winter ice events load limbs with hundreds of pounds of glaze in a matter of hours, and the resulting limb failures often happen at 3 AM when no one’s watching.
The trees that fail in these storms usually had warning signs before the weather hit- dead wood, weak branch unions, root issues, leaning that wasn’t there a year ago. Most catastrophic tree failures we respond to could have been prevented with timely inspection and removal. If you’ve got a tree that looks suspect, calling for a free evaluation now is far cheaper than calling for an emergency response later.
A Warning About Storm Door-Knockers
After every major storm in the Midlands, traveling crews show up offering cheap immediate cleanup. Some are legitimate. Many are not. They’re often uninsured, unlicensed, working out of an unmarked truck, and ready to disappear if anything goes wrong. The cheap price is a setup.
Before hiring anyone for storm work- including us- ask for proof of insurance, ask for license information, and don’t pay a large cash deposit up front. A legitimate company will be happy to provide everything. Dixon Trees can show TCIA accreditation, ISA membership, BBB A+ rating, and current liability and workers’ comp coverage on request.
Why Choose Us?
Tree work is dangerous, and accreditation in this industry isn’t easy to come by. Dixon Trees LLC holds the credentials that actually matter:
- TCIA Accredited- Tree Care Industry Association accreditation, held by less than 2% of tree companies nationally.
- ISA Member- International Society of Arboriculture membership and standards.
- OSHA Certified- federal occupational safety certification on every crew.
- BBB A+ Rated- Better Business Bureau accredited with an A+ rating.
- Licensed, Bonded, and Insured- full general liability, workers’ comp, and bonding.
