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At JEA we have to come to a middle ground between acknowledging customers' strong feelings about their trees and keeping trees from impacting service reliability to you and your neighbors.
As you probably have heard, 99 percent of the power outages experienced by JEA customers during Hurricane Frances were caused by tree damage. These trees were growing too close to power lines. In some cases, fuses were blown when limbs brushed our power lines.
Because of the potential hazard trees pose to electric lines, JEA routinely performs maintenance trimming on trees around power lines by professional trimming contractors. These contractors use proper arboricultural pruning methods to keep the tree growth within acceptable limits. This is done under the close direction of JEA's foresters and certified arborists.
How can you protect your trees? Have an arborist assess the status of the trees' health and consider the location and mature height of a tree before planting it. Also, make sure there is adequate clearance for the tree to grow and not interfere with utility lines and equipment. For example, if the mature height of a tree or bush is greater than 15 feet, do not plant it beneath electric lines.
Tree damage following a major storm or hurricane:
- JEA is responsible for removing downed electric lines caused by tree damage on your property.
- Your cable and/or phone service provider is responsible for the removal of cable or phone lines caused by tree damage.
- The homeowner is responsible for removing downed trees on private property, including the removal of trees leaning on the house, garage or other structures. If there is damage where the electric wires attach to the house, the homeowner must also hire an electrician to make repairs before we can restore power to your house.
- The City of Jacksonville Department of Public Works is responsible for clearing any downed trees in the roadways. Please contact 630-CITY to report any roads blocked by fallen debris.
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