TEMPLE, Texas — Jason Turner found out a tree limb fell on his mothers' house, and the power lines going to her house, on Wednesday. But there wasn't one problem cleaning it up; There were several problems.
The limb may have fallen on the property belonging to Turner's 86-year-old mother, but the tree itself was on the vacant lot next door and there were only certain parts Turner could attempt to cut without trespassing. The limb had made contact with the house but was also suspended on a metal line holding up the power lines. It was difficult to tell which of the two was holding it up. Additionally, Turner is now 63, and had only a small pole saw to do the job.
Turner said the City of Temple could only have code enforcement take a look and suggested he talk to Oncor. Oncor said they weren't responsible for lines between the home and the nearest power pole.
Then he called 6 News.
"The tree that it is still attached to, if it breaks up there it is going to bring everything down," Turner said Thursday.
Turner cut some of the smaller branches off but didn't know what else he could do safely. He wasn't sure he could even afford to have a company do it, or how soon it would come down.
6 News contacted Oncor on Thursday and sent the local Oncor area manager pictures of the situation via email. An Oncor representative said the homeowner is normally responsible for the removal of a tree limb on a service wire, but the district operations manager would send a truck by to look at it.
Less than an hour and a half later, an Oncor truck showed up and a service journeyman was able to cut the limb of the electricity service line without bringing the line down.
"He took a look at it. Got out his chainsaw pole saw... I was doing it with a hand saw... and he was able to shape it up real quick. I'm grateful. I don't have to worry about mom now," Turner said. "It's a tremendous relief and there is no bill at the end of it."
Turner said they called the insurance company too but he didn't know how long it would have taken to get the job approved. At the same time, he didn't know when the branch would have collapsed.
"It's a tremendous relief and there is no bill at the end of it," Turner said. "They stepped up, came on out, and did it. I'm proud of them. I'm also proud of 6 News for helping us out."