Karen and Dave Harper woke up the morning after August’s windstorm thinking they had gotten off easy. Two of the tall white pines along the edge of their Keene yard had come down in the night, but neither one was flat on the ground. They had fallen into each other and stopped, crowns locked together, each holding the other up at a slant over the back lawn.
It looked almost tidy. No broken fence, nothing on the shed, nothing on the roof. Dave figured he could borrow a saw that weekend and cut the two of them into rounds, the same way he had cleaned up smaller limbs after past storms.
Then a friend who runs an excavation crew pulled into the driveway, took one look at the leaning pair, and told Dave to keep his distance. Not next weekend. Right then.
What the Harpers were reading as “settled” was really two heavy trees full of stored force, each one propping the other at an angle neither could hold alone. The calm, stable look was the dangerous part. His friend told them to call someone who takes these apart for a living before anybody walked up to them with a chainsaw.
That is the kind of call we field at Wilcox Tree Service almost every time a real storm moves through the Monadnock Region. A tree on the ground is one problem. Two trees caught against each other in mid-fall are a very different one.
Here is why a pair of trees leaning together is far more dangerous than it looks, and what actually has to happen to bring them down without anyone getting hurt.
The Storm Damage That Looks Stable but Is Not
When two storm-damaged trees fall into each other and stop, they are not stable. They are paused. That pause can last an hour or a week, and then end in a second with no warning. The trees have not finished falling. Something is simply holding them for now, and that something can shift the moment the weather, the soil, or a person changes the balance.
The reason it fools people is that our eyes read “not moving” as “safe.” After a storm you walk out, see that the mess has stopped moving, and your brain relaxes. A leaning, interlocked pair sits quietly in the yard looking like a job for a Saturday afternoon. Nothing creaks. Nothing sways. It feels finished.
It is not finished. A tree that fell partway and got caught is still trying to reach the ground. Gravity did not switch off when the crown snagged on the neighboring tree. All of that downward pull is still there, now routed through bent trunks, pinched limbs, and half-lifted root plates. The whole arrangement is loaded like a set spring, and it is waiting on one small change to keep going.
In Keene we see this most with white pines and mixed hardwoods on the edges of yards and along tree lines, where wind can drop one tree into the next. The ground is often soft from the same rain that came with the wind, so root plates are loose and footing is bad. A leaning pair on saturated August ground is even less settled than it looks, because the soil holding those roots is giving way slowly the entire time.
The short version is this. If a storm left you with two trees resting against each other, treat the quiet as a warning, not a green light.
What Stored Tension Actually Does in Tangled Keene Trees
Every leaning, tangled tree is holding energy. When a trunk bends instead of breaking, it stores force the way a drawn bow does. One side of that bend is under compression, squeezed tight. The other side is under tension, stretched and pulling. As long as nothing moves, those two forces stay balanced against each other and the tree holds its awkward shape.
Cut into that balance, or knock it loose, and the stored force has to go somewhere. It releases all at once, not gently. The compressed side springs open, the stretched side snaps back, and the trunk or limb can kick, roll, or swing with enough speed to break bone. People in the trade call the worst version of this a “widow-maker” for a reason, and tangled storm trees are full of them.
The tricky part is that you cannot see stored tension by looking. A loaded limb looks the same as a relaxed one. The trunk that is about to spring gives no obvious sign. Reading where the force is hiding, and which cut will let it out safely, is the whole skill, and it is why this is not a guess-and-check job.
When One Tree Is Holding the Other Up
In the Harpers’ yard, neither pine was standing on its own. Each one was leaning into the other, and the point where their crowns met was the only thing keeping both off the ground. Pull one away and the other has nothing to lean on.
That is what makes an interlocked pair so unpredictable. The two trees are now a single connected system. Cut or drag the first tree free and you have not solved half the problem, you have removed the support for the second one. It can drop, twist, or roll toward whatever is nearest, and there is no reliable way to guess which direction from the ground.
This is exactly why the “I will just take the easy one first” instinct is so dangerous. The easy tree is often the one holding everything else in place.
Why the Crown Tangle Is the Danger Point
The spot where the two crowns lock together is where the most force is stored and the least of it is visible. Limbs are crossed, bent, and jammed against each other, some in compression, some in tension, all of them under load. From below it looks like a messy knot of branches. Inside that knot, individual limbs are bent hard enough to launch the moment they are freed.
Disturb the tangle from the wrong side and several of those limbs can release at once, in different directions. That is the moment that hurts people, and it usually happens fast, above head height, where you have nowhere to step. Working that crown apart safely means releasing it in a planned order, from the right positions, with the loads controlled instead of guessed at.
Why You Cannot Just Cut Tangled Trees Apart in Keene
The most searched question after a storm like this is some version of “how do I cut apart tangled fallen trees myself.” The honest answer is that you should not, and it is worth understanding why, because the reasons are not obvious until it is too late.
A chainsaw assumes the wood you are cutting is going to stay roughly where it is until you finish the cut. On a loaded, interlocked mass, that assumption is wrong. The instant your blade releases the tension holding a bent trunk, the wood moves. It can pinch the bar and rip the saw out of your hands, or it can snap toward you before you have taken a step back. Now you are off balance, holding a running saw, next to several tons of tree that just started moving.
The footing makes it worse. You are standing on storm debris, on soft ground, often on a slope, reaching up or across to cut something over your head. Ladders and interlocked storm trees are a terrible combination, because the tree can shift the ladder out from under you. Add a saw that just kicked, a limb that just sprang, and a second tree that just lost its support, and you have three or four hazards releasing in the same second.
There is also the part you cannot see coming, which is which way things fall. Even a straightforward standing tree needs a planned notch and hinge to fall where you want. A tangled pair has no simple lean to read and no clean hinge to cut. Guess wrong and the mass comes down toward the house, the driveway, the power line, or you.
This is the point where light, controlled release stops being a weekend task and becomes a trained one. Taking tension out of a loaded tree in the right order, from safe positions, with the right rigging, is a skill built over years. It is the core of what our crew does on this kind of storm damage tree removal in Keene, NH, and it is not something to learn on the two pines in your own backyard.
How These Situations Are Taken Apart Safely
Bringing down an interlocked pair safely is a sequence, not a single cut. Before any saw runs, the first job is reading the trees. Which one is bearing the load. Where the compression is and where the tension is. Which way each trunk wants to go once it is freed. What is underneath and downhill, meaning the house, the fence, the septic, the driveway, the neighbor’s yard. That read decides everything that follows.
From there, the work comes apart in a planned order. Instead of attacking the trunks first, the crew usually relieves the tangle in stages, taking weight off the system a piece at a time so no single cut releases everything at once. Tension gets let out deliberately, from the side where the wood will move away from people, using cuts that ease the force out in a controlled way rather than a sudden one.
Rigging is a big part of it. Ropes, slings, and pulleys let a crew hold a limb or a section under tension, cut it, and lower it under control instead of letting it drop and swing. On a heavy leaning pair, that control is the whole game. It is the difference between a section coming down where the crew put it and a section coming down wherever gravity throws it.
For the biggest or most awkward tangles, the safest tool is a crane. A crane can take the weight of a whole trunk or a heavy top before it is cut, so the piece never gets the chance to fall or spring at all. It is lifted away clean. Wilcox Crane Service handles the jobs where reaching over a roof, a road, or a tight yard makes ground rigging too risky, which is common on the built-up lots around Keene.
The thread running through all of it is control. Nothing is allowed to move on its own. Every piece is held, cut, and set down on purpose, in an order chosen so the remaining trees stay predictable the whole way through. That is what “taken apart safely” actually means, and it is why the work looks slow and careful from the outside. Slow and careful is the point.
How Wilcox Tree Service Clears Tangled Storm Trees in Keene
When you call us about two storm trees leaning together, the first thing we do is come look, before anything is cut and before we lay out a plan. We read the load, find where the tension is stored, and check what is downhill and underneath. That hazard assessment tells us the safe order of operations for your specific pair of trees, because no two tangles come down the same way.
From there we handle the controlled dismantling. Depending on the trees and the space, that means rigging limbs and sections down under rope, releasing tension in a planned sequence, and bringing in the crane for the heavy or overhead pieces. Our crew keeps people and equipment out of the fall path the entire time, and nothing gets freed until we know where it is going to go.
Then we clean up. Tangled storm trees leave a real mess, and we do not count the job as done until the wood is cut down, the debris is cleared, and your yard is walkable again. If your situation is urgent, a tree hung up over the house or the driveway after a storm, we answer storm calls 24/7, because those are exactly the ones that should not wait. This is the heart of what our hazardous tree removal company in Keene, NH does after a big blow.
The Harpers, for what it is worth, made the right call. They kept everyone away from the pines, we brought the pair down in the planned order, and the only thing that got broken that week was the trees. That is how it is supposed to go.
Have tangled storm-damaged trees in Keene? Call Wilcox Tree Service at 603-363-8197 before anyone touches them.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why are two trees leaning into each other dangerous in Keene?
Because they are not settled, they are paused mid-fall. Each tree is holding the other up, and both are loaded with stored force from bending instead of breaking. That balance can release the moment the wind picks up, the wet ground gives, or someone touches one of the trunks. The quiet, stable look is the warning sign, not the all-clear. The safest move is to keep back and let a trained crew take the pair apart.
- Is it safe to cut apart tangled fallen trees myself?
No. A chainsaw assumes the wood stays put while you cut, and on a loaded, interlocked mass it does not. Releasing the tension can pinch the saw, snap a trunk back toward you, or drop the second tree once its support is gone, all on bad storm footing. It is one of the most dangerous jobs in tree work. Call Wilcox Tree Service at 603-363-8197 and stay clear until a crew arrives.
- What is stored tension in a storm-damaged tree?
It is the force trapped in a trunk or limb that bent under the storm instead of snapping. One side is squeezed under compression, the other is stretched under tension, and the two hold each other in place while nothing moves. Cut or disturb it and that energy releases all at once, fast and hard enough to injure. You cannot see it by looking, which is why reading it correctly takes real training.
- Can removing one tangled tree cause the other to fall?
Yes, and that is the core danger of an interlocked pair. The two trees have become one connected system, each leaning on the other. Pull the first one free and you remove what was holding the second, which can then drop, twist, or roll with no reliable way to predict the direction from the ground. This is why the trees have to come apart in a planned order, not one at a time by feel.
- How does Wilcox Tree Service take apart interlocked trees safely?
We start by reading the loads, where the tension sits and which way each trunk wants to move. Then we relieve the tangle in stages, using rope and rigging to lower sections under control and a crane for heavy or overhead pieces, so nothing is ever allowed to fall or spring on its own. Every piece is held, cut, and set down on purpose, and we clear the debris once the work is done.
- Should I wait for a professional if two trees are leaning together?
Yes. Keep people, pets, and vehicles out from under and around the trees, and do not try to speed things up by cutting or pulling anything loose. A leaning pair can hold for days or let go in seconds, so the safe play is distance plus a phone call. Wilcox Tree Service answers storm calls 24/7 at 603-363-8197, and for a hung-up pair over a house or driveway, sooner is better.