Call (425) 369-8733 — Issaquah Storm & Emergency Tree Service

Issaquah sits against Squak, Tiger, and Cougar. Wind comes off the valley, rain loads the slope, and a Douglas fir or bigleaf maple that looked fine at dinner can be on a roof, a car, or the only driveway out by midnight. If that is the job, call MTS Tree and Landscape at (425) 369-8733 . The line is answered 24/7. We are a Sammamish tree company. Issaquah is a regular service city — hillsides, older Olde Town lots, and the Alps edge — not a home-base claim and not a side trip.

This page is for storm damage and true emergencies only. A standing dead fir you have been watching, a crown that needs thinning, or a planned hazardous take-down belongs on our Issaquah tree removal or trimming pages.

Tree on the house, driveway, or car? Call (425) 369-8733 . 24/7 phone. No web form required to start an emergency call.

Key Takeaways

• Call (425) 369-8733 first. Stay out of the drop zone. Do not climb, chain-saw, or pull on a hang-up over a roof or a hillside deck.
• If the tree is in or on wires: stay at least 35 feet back. Call 911 for downed lines, then Puget Sound Energy at 1-888-225-5773. Issaquah is PSE territory, not Seattle City Light. MTS does not work live wires. We take the tree once the utility says the lines are safe.
• Inside the City of Issaquah, IMC 18.812.050(D) lets you make an immediate danger to life or a dwelling safe before a permit is in hand. You still file a Tree Permit through mybuildingpermit.com within three business days. The stump has to stay for City inspection.
• Some lots on Squak, Tiger, and Cougar sit in unincorporated King County, not city limits. Those follow KCC 16.82, not IMC 18.812. We check jurisdiction before we treat the paperwork as an Issaquah Tree Permit.
• We make the site safe, rig or crane wood off the structure, haul debris, and can help tarp an opening the tree made. We are not a roofing contractor.
• After an emergency, do not grind the stump until the City has had a chance to inspect it. See Issaquah stump grinding.

What To Do Right Now

1. Get people and pets out of the rooms, decks, and yard the tree can still hit. If anyone is hurt or trapped, call 911.
2. Stay back. A cracked fir above a Talus driveway or a hung-up maple over an Olde Town roof can finish falling without warning. Do not walk under it to “check the damage,” and do not send anyone downhill of a tree that is still moving on a slope.
3. If you see downed or sagging lines, or the tree is on a pole or service drop: stay at least 35 feet away. Call 911. Do not touch the tree, the fence, a metal railing, or standing water near it. Report it to Puget Sound Energy at 1-888-225-5773. Call MTS after the lines are safe.
4. If it is safe to do so from a distance, take photos: the tree on the structure, the point of impact, the blocked driveway, interior damage if you can reach it without walking under wood. Issaquah will want evidence of an imminent threat. Insurers ask for this too. Do not delay the safety call to stage a photoshoot.
5. Call MTS Tree and Landscape at (425) 369-8733 . Tell us the address, whether anyone is still in the house, whether lines are involved, whether the only exit is blocked, and whether the lot is on a hillside.
6. Do not DIY. A chainsaw in a compression bind, a rope on a hang-up over shingles, or “just dropping it down the slope” is how a salvageable roof becomes a second claim — and how a second tree or a retaining wall gets taken with it. Leave the tree where it sits until a crew is on it.

Phone first. The quote form is for later, when the site is already safe.

What We Do On An Issaquah Emergency Call

The job is make-safe, then clean-up — not a planned backyard take-down.

• Triage on the phone. Life-safety and occupied structures first. A fir through an Olde Town living room beats a split alder that landed in a side yard and hit nothing.
• Make the tree safe. Cut and rig the parts that can still fail onto the house, the car, or the only way out. Sometimes that is a full removal. Sometimes it is a hang-up, a split leader, or a leaner that has to come down in sections so wood does not roll a Talus or Squak grade.
• Crane or climbing/rigging when the drop zone is a roof, a steep driveway, or a lot where a chipper will not set. Highlands streets, Talus switchbacks, and older Front Street / Sunset Way lots are not the same setup. We use a crane when it is the safer way to get wood off a structure.
• Haul. Storm wood, chips, and the pieces that were on the driveway leave with us unless you ask to keep firewood that is actually safe to keep.
• Tarps, not roofs. If the tree opened a hole, we can help get a tarp over it so weather stays out. Call a roofer for the repair.
• City (or County) follow-up. Photos, TRAQ or an arborist report when the City wants one, and the after-the-fact Tree Permit. If the tree has already fallen onto a road or a structure, Issaquah’s current code does not require an arborist report for that fallen tree — photos still matter. If it is unincorporated King County, we document an imminent hazard with before-and-after photos under KCC 16.82.

We are licensed, bonded, and insured. Climbers and crew leads train to ISA and L&I standards. We do not cut live electrical.

Call (425) 369-8733 .

Storm Work vs Planned Removal

A wind-thrown cedar through a Gilman-area garage is an emergency. A 70-foot fir on a Squak lot you have been watching for two years is a planned hazardous removal, even if it makes you nervous.

Situation	This page	Other page
Tree on house, garage, or occupied room	Yes	—
Tree on a car	Yes	—
Only driveway / only exit blocked	Yes	—
Split, hung-up, or newly leaning over a roof after wind	Yes	—
Debris making the house unsafe to occupy	Yes	—
Tree in Issaquah Creek or Tibbetts Creek	Make-safe only if it is a hazard; wood in the channel often stays	Removal for the rest
Dead or declining tree that is still standing and stable	No	Issaquah tree removal
Large or hazardous tree you want off before the next storm	No	Issaquah tree removal
Clearance, shape, or storm-proofing a healthy crown	No	Issaquah tree trimming
Stump left after the emergency wood is gone	After City inspection	Issaquah stump grinding

Emergency work is usually more involved than a scheduled job: night or weekend labor, hillside access, crane time, and protecting a damaged roof. We give you a number for the work in front of us. We do not invent a citywide price list on this page.

For a tree that can wait, use Issaquah tree removal services. Call (425) 369-8733 either way if you are not sure.

Issaquah Emergency Rules, In Plain Language

This is a field guide, not a substitute for the code. IMC 18.812 was amended in 2025 (Ord. 3114) and the Land Use Code is current through Ordinance 3136 (March 30, 2026). We classify the tree on site.

City of Issaquah (IMC 18.812.050(D))

Emergency conditions are immediate danger to life, dwellings, or similar stationary and valuable property. You may remove hazardous protected and nonprotected trees before a permit is issued if you then:

1. Apply for a Tree Permit with Community Planning & Development within three business days.
2. Give the City evidence of an imminent threat (TRAQ forms or an arborist report from a qualified professional arborist). Photos and video help. An arborist report is not required if the tree has already fallen (roads, structures, weather).
3. Leave the stump so the City can inspect it.
4. Plan on replacement trees, unless you can show the lot still meets canopy-coverage targets after the removal (IMC 18.812.060).
5. Understand that if the City decides it was not an emergency, the owner can be cited.

We do not use “emergency” as a shortcut to take down a healthy tree. Hazardous trees that are still standing and are not an immediate danger go through the regular hazardous-tree permit (IMC 18.812.050(C)), not this page. The City currently assesses no Tree Permit fee when every tree on the application is deemed hazardous — that is a fee waiver, not a skip-the-paperwork waiver.

Apply via mybuildingpermit.com(Clearing and Grading → Trees or Vegetation Only → Tree Removal). Questions: TreeQ@issaquahwa.gov or CPD at (425) 837-3100.

Protected trees and critical areas

A “protected tree” in Issaquah is not only a fat trunk. It includes trees in a greenbelt, environmentally critical area, common area, approved landscape plan, right-of-way, City-owned land, a prior replacement planting, or a Native Growth Protection Easement (NGPE). Steep slopes, wetlands, streams, and buffers along Issaquah Creek and Tibbetts Creek still matter after the saw stops. Trees that have fallen into creeks or lakes are supposed to stay unless they create a hazard; pulling them can trigger a Hydraulic Project Approval from WDFW. Root work on steep slopes can need a geotechnical look. We do not treat a creek-side storm as a clearing job.

City property and street trees

Trees on City land are not a DIY. Email TreeQ@issaquahwa.gov. Parks or Public Works owns the follow-up. A franchised utility can work in the right-of-way under IMC 18.812.030(C); a homeowner cannot “just take the street tree” because a limb came down.

Unincorporated King County (Squak / Tiger / Cougar edge)

If the lot is outside city limits, Issaquah’s Tree Permit is the wrong form. Per King County, an imminent hazard (could fail at any moment in an area people use) may be removed without a clearing permit under KCC 16.82 — keep before-and-after photos. A hazard that is not imminent (defect, disease, lean) needs a certified arborist and a clearing permit. We check the parcel before we file.

Penalties

Unpermitted work is a code problem. Issaquah points to IMC 8.45 (civil penalties). We do not invent a dollar fine on this page. We also do not skip the three-day filing because it was windy.

Downed Lines: Utility First, Then The Tree

Puget Sound Energy is clear: assume every downed line is live. Stay at least 35 feet back. Call 911 or PSE at 1-888-225-5773.

MTS Tree and Landscape does not handle live wires, does not move a line, and does not cut a tree that is still energizing a fence, a car, or standing water. Once PSE (or the 911 response) has made the electrical side safe, we take the wood.

If the tree is on your service drop but you are not sure it is de-energized, treat it as live. Call the utility. Then call us at (425) 369-8733 .

Insurance After An Issaquah Storm

Photograph before anyone moves wood, if you can do it from a safe place. Then call us. Then call the insurer.

Homeowners policies often cover tree removal when a structure is damaged. They often do not cover a tree that fell in the yard and hit nothing. A tree on a car is usually auto, not homeowners. Deductibles, “act of God” language, and neighbor-tree disputes are between you and the carrier.

We can document what we found, what we removed, and why it was an emergency. We can write the arborist notes many adjusters ask for. We cannot promise they will pay, and we will not inflate the file.

Call (425) 369-8733 .

When It Is Not An Emergency

If the tree is dead but standing, ugly, too close to the house, or “probably coming down someday,” that is planned work. Same for a crown that needs thinning before the next Pineapple Express, wildfire clearance that is not an immediate danger, or a stump you want gone after last year’s removal.

• Planned large or hazardous removal: Issaquah tree removal
• Trimming and pruning: Issaquah tree trimming
• Stump grinding: Issaquah stump grinding

If you are standing in the yard at 2 a.m. arguing with yourself, call (425) 369-8733. We will tell you if it can wait until daylight.

Neighborhoods And Terrain We Actually Run In A Storm

Issaquah is not one lot type.

• Olde Town / downtown / Gilman / Front Street / Sunset Way: older, tighter lots, bigleaf maple and cottonwood near the creek, alleys that will not take a chipper, houses close to the fall zone.
• Issaquah Highlands and Grand Ridge: large second-growth firs, HOA streets, crane questions, elevation and wind.
• Talus: steep driveways, limited staging, wood that wants to roll.
• Squak Mountain, Cougar Mountain, Tiger Mountain edge: hillside root plates, NGPEs, and parcels that may be city or unincorporated King County. We do not guess the jurisdiction from the mailbox.
• Issaquah Creek and Tibbetts Creek corridors / South Cove / Sycamore: wet soils, cottonwood, and “leave it in the channel” rules unless it is a true hazard.
• Providence Point and valley floor: access is easier; the emergency is still the tree on the structure, not the slope.

If your street is not on that list, we still run Issaquah jobs. Call.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need an Issaquah permit if the tree already hit the house?

You can make an immediate danger safe. IMC 18.812.050(D) still wants a Tree Permit within three business days, evidence of the threat, and the stump left for inspection. If the tree has already fallen, the City does not require an arborist report for that fallen tree. We handle the emergency work and the paperwork. We do not skip CPD because it was a Sunday.

The tree is on the wires. Who do I call?

911 for downed lines. Puget Sound Energy at 1-888-225-5773. Stay 35 feet back. Call MTS Tree and Landscape at (425) 369-8733 for the tree after the lines are safe. We do not cut live electrical.

Will my insurance pay?

Sometimes, when a structure is damaged. Often not, when the tree only hit the lawn. We document. We do not promise a check.

A fir split in the wind but is still standing over the roof on a Talus lot. Is that an emergency?

If it can still fail onto the house, a car, or the only exit, treat it as one. Do not wait to see if the next squall finishes it. Call (425) 369-8733.

You are in Sammamish. Do you actually take Issaquah storm calls?

Yes. MTS Tree and Landscape is based at 4580 Klahanie Dr SE #261, Sammamish, WA 98029. Issaquah is a regular service city — Olde Town, the Highlands, Talus, and the Alps edge included. Same phone, 24/7: (425) 369-8733.

Can you grind the stump tonight?

Not if the City still needs to see it. Emergency code says the stump stays available for inspection. Grinding is a later visit: Issaquah stump grinding.

Sammamish-Based. Issaquah Is A Normal Week.

MTS Tree and Landscape runs King and Pierce County from Sammamish. We are not an Issaquah storefront, and we do not pretend to be. We are the crew that already knows Eastside hillside access, older Issaquah lots, IMC 18.812, when a parcel is actually King County, and when to stop for PSE.

24/7 phone. No web form required to start an emergency call.

Call (425) 369-8733 , email info@nwmts.com, or use the quote form once the site is safe.