Alton Tree Safety Guide

We take down storm-damaged and dangerous trees around Alton. This page puts the most useful safety advice in one place, with links to the public agencies it comes from. You're welcome to share it or link to it from a neighborhood, HOA, school or city website.

Who to call

After a storm, the right call depends on where the tree is and what it is touching.

Before the storm: get trees ready

Trees that break in storms often show warning signs first. Late fall and winter, after the leaves drop, is the easiest time to see them.

• Dead or hanging limbs over the roof, the driveway, a play set or the street.
• Trees that already lean toward the house or a power line, especially if the lean is new.
• Weak forks. Trees with more than one main leader, clump or multi-trunk trees, narrow branch unions with bark pinched between them, and lopsided crowns are among the most likely to break under snow and ice. So are upright evergreens.^[3]
• Cracks, cavities and hollow spots in the trunk or in big limbs.
• Mushrooms or other fungus growing at the base or on the roots, a common sign of decay inside.
• Branches resting on the roof or gutters, which turn into battering rams in high wind.

Healthy, well-pruned trees handle snow and ice loads better.^[3] Dormant-season pruning, from late fall through winter, is also the safest time to work on oaks (see oak wilt below).^[8]

After the storm: what to check

1. Stay safe first. Keep away from any tree touching a wire, and treat every line as live.^[4] Look up before you walk under a damaged tree. Broken limbs can stay hung up in the crown and drop hours or days later.
2. Don't knock ice off. Forcing snow and ice off a tree can do more damage. Bent branches that aren't broken usually recover on their own.^[3]
3. Look for the big warning signs: a split or cracked trunk, a big leader torn out, a tree that is newly leaning, or soil and roots heaved up on one side. Those trees can fail without more wind.
4. Judge what is left. As a rule of thumb from the Missouri Department of Conservation, a tree that still has more than half of its crown is often worth saving.^[4]
5. Don't top the tree. Topping or severe pruning weakens trees and sets them up for more damage in the next storm. Remove broken branches back to a clean cut.^[4]
6. Leave the chainsaw work to someone trained. Small debris on the ground is usually fine to clean up yourself. Chainsaw work off the ground and work on large trees should be done by a professional with the right equipment and training.^[4]
7. Take photos of the tree and any damage before anything is moved. Your insurance adjuster will want them.

How to spot a dangerous tree any time of year

A tree doesn't need a storm to fall. These are the signs we look for on every estimate:

• Dead top or dead branches high in the crown, often the first thing you can see from the street.
• Bark falling off in sheets, or bark that sounds hollow.
• Deep cracks running up the trunk or through a big branch union.
• Cavities and soft, punky wood, especially near the base.
• Roots that are cut, rotted or lifting, often after a driveway, sewer or foundation job.
• A tree that is dying from a pest or disease, like an ash tree with emerald ash borer. From our experience, dead ash trees get harder and riskier to take down the longer they stand.

If you see one of these over a house, a driveway, a sidewalk or a power line, have it looked at sooner rather than later.

Local pests and diseases to know

Emerald ash borer (ash trees)

Emerald ash borer is an invasive beetle that kills ash trees. Its larvae tunnel under the bark and starve the tree. All of Illinois' native ash trees are susceptible, and in areas that have had the beetle for a while, fewer than 1% of untreated ash trees typically survive.^[5]

Signs to look for: dieback starting at the top of the tree, lots of small leafy shoots sprouting from the trunk, woodpecker damage that leaves ragged holes and lighter bark showing, winding tunnels under loose bark, and small D-shaped exit holes.^[5]

What you can do: Ash trees can be protected with insecticide treatments. University of Illinois Extension says recovery is likely when a tree still has 70% or more of its canopy, and treatments have to be repeated every one to three years.^[5] The Missouri Department of Conservation has a homeowner decision guide for treating or removing ash.^[6] To avoid spreading it, buy firewood where you burn it.^[7]

Oak wilt (oak trees)

Oak wilt is a fungal disease. Trees in the red oak group, like northern red oak, pin oak, black oak and shingle oak, are the most at risk and can die in as little as three to four weeks once infected. White oaks, post oaks and bur oaks usually decline more slowly.^[8]

Signs to look for: leaves turning color from the tips or edges and falling early, starting at the top of the tree and moving down quickly in red oaks.^[8]

How it spreads: through grafted roots between nearby oaks, and by small sap beetles that carry spores to fresh wounds. Storms that wound healthy oaks can help it spread.^[8]

What you can do: Don't prune or wound oaks from mid-March through June.^[9] Prune only when the leaves are off or after the first hard frost, be careful with mowers and trimmers around the trunk, and don't store or move firewood from oaks killed by oak wilt.^[8]

MadCow arborists treat any tree disease or pest. If you are not sure what you're looking at, see our tree health care page or send us a photo.

What you can do yourself, and when to call a pro

Usually fine to do yourself: picking up small branches and twigs on the ground, trimming small suckers and low branches with sharp hand pruners, and watching a bent tree to see if it straightens up.^[2][3]

Call a pro: anything touching a wire (call the utility first), anything that needs a chainsaw off the ground or a ladder, any tree or limb resting on a house or car, hanging limbs, split trunks, and big trees in tight spots.^[4]

Sources

1. Ameren: Downed Power Lines (report numbers for Illinois and Missouri)
2. City of Alton, Public Works: Forestry (public and street trees)
3. University of Illinois Extension: The weight of winter: Snow and ice on trees (2023)
4. Missouri Department of Conservation: Tree Care After Storms (PDF)
5. University of Illinois Extension: Emerald Ash Borer
6. Missouri Department of Conservation: EAB Management Guide for Missouri Homeowners (PDF)
7. USDA APHIS: Only Buy Firewood Where You Burn It
8. University of Illinois Extension: Prevent oak wilt from damaging your trees (2020)
9. Missouri Department of Conservation: Oak Wilt
10. JULIE (Illinois 811): Before You Dig
11. University of Illinois Extension: Madison, Monroe and St. Clair Counties office

This guide is general safety information, not a substitute for an on-site look at your tree. Phone numbers were checked on the agencies' websites in November 2026.

Questions about a tree in Alton, the Metro East or St. Louis? MadCow Tree Service offers free estimates and 24/7 emergency service. Call 618-CUT-WOOD (618-288-9663).