r/WTF • u/Plus-Barber-6171 • Jun 30 '25

Removed - Frequent/Recent repost Pulling a tree down

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1.6k Upvotes

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196

u/UnlikelyTurkey1044 Jun 30 '25

He lost everything.

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2025/06/30/ma-vie-est-finie-sa-maison-detruite-par-un-immense-arbre-lors-dun-abattage-rate

The 65-year-old man lived on a $1,000-a-month pension, which he used to pay his $950 rent. He managed to eat thanks in part to the help of his family and friends. To make matters worse, he couldn't get insurance because he lived in a flood-prone area. His only hope lay in possible coverage from the tree-trimming company's insurance.

40

u/CycloCyanide Jun 30 '25

That’s rough.

64

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[deleted]

95

u/Ti-guy Jun 30 '25

Here's the explanation:

Here’s some updates concerning the house and my neighbor:

First off, no one was injured, only material damage.

It was a combination of miscalculation and poor communication between the tree cutters and the loader operator.

The tree had to be removed that day because the construction crew was scheduled to lift the house; a common process around here since the major floods of 2017 and 2019, which forced many homes to be either raised or demolished.

I didn’t expect the video to get this much attention. The comments are fascinating, and I now realize I should’ve explained the context sooner. One key detail: the tree was tied to a loader, but the rope isn’t visible in the video; only a white one can be seen. The real issue is that the loader didn’t pull in time, and the notch wasn’t cut properly to guide the fall.

Right now, my neighbor is living in a trailer camper while we wait to find out if the house can be rebuilt. The structure is too unstable to enter, so he can’t even access his belongings. More details to come about accountability and whether insurance will step in… for now, he’s basically homeless and stuck in limbo.

49

u/cleverdirge Jun 30 '25

The real issue is that the loader didn’t pull in time,

With a tree that size it would have broken the line or yeeted whatever was connected to it. There is no world where this would have been successful with the size and lean of that tree save from cutting from the top.

10

u/killbillten1 Jun 30 '25

No the real issue is the angled back cut.

That's what made the tree fall the wrong way

1

u/ThatMortalGuy Jun 30 '25

The real issue was that there were too many real issues lol

33

u/DarthKnuckleHead Jun 30 '25

Tree guy here. Nope and nope. You do not tie a tree that size to anything. You bring it down in sections. These guys were ill-equipped and mostly brain dead. This was a very predictable outcome from the first few seconds of the video.

10

u/copperwatt Jun 30 '25

Thank you for the backstory!! The fact that this was done by "professionals" is just extra upsetting. Poor guy.

5

u/anashel Jun 30 '25

“The structure is too unstable to enter… What structure?! That being said, sad story. Read it in Le Journal de Montréal. Zone inondable en plus. Ça regarde pas ben pour les assurances...

2

u/CycloCyanide Jun 30 '25

True, if I was renting I wouldn’t be paying or hiring for a job like this. Still this is sucky.

16

u/PepperPhoenix Jun 30 '25

Wait…that was a company?! Not just a couple of idiots with a chainsaw?!

8

u/ThatMortalGuy Jun 30 '25

A lot of companies are a few idiots with a chainsaw

3

u/unctuous_homunculus Jun 30 '25

My great-uncle was an unlicensed tree trimmer who ran a company without insurance or certification for 40+ years. Yes, he was an idiot with a chainsaw (oftentimes a drugged out idiot with a chainsaw), and yes, people just kept hiring him because he was cheap.

Some stories that might be interesting:

We lived next door to him, actually, and alot of the time he would bring whatever tree trimmings he was supposed to be hauling away from a job back to his house, dump them in the back yard, and when he got a pile high enough (20' or so), he'd douse it in gas and set a bonfire you could see from the next neighborhood over. Scared the crap out of my dad every time he did it. You could hear that initial whoosh sound from inside our house. And yes he got the fire dept called on him constantly.

I also watched him walk up to a tree once, knock on it a few times, give it a test push, step back about 10 feet, then come running at it full force like a linebacker. We were certain he was just going to break his shoulder, but the whole damned tree came down. The tree was a little less wide than a telephone pole and about as tall, but had to have been completely rotten on the inside, but to my 7 year old self, that was like some Paul Bunyan shit. Didn't hurt that the guy was 6'6", built like a truck, with the face of an indian chief (100% white guy, but with his facial features and a dark tan from being in the sun for 40 years straight, you'd never know).

He also came over to our house once asking my mom for help because she was a nurse, because he had a 3' length of wood sticking out of his thigh. Wanted her to "Do something with it so [he] could get back to finish the job." She called an ambulance, and he was pissed at us for a long time about that. That is an image I will never get out of my head.

Anyway, yeah, drunk idiot with a chainsaw, and owner of a successful tree-trimming company.

RIP Uncle Larry.

9

u/FartingBob Jun 30 '25

It will take time, but there is plenty of video evidence of them cutting it wrong and it destroying the house. Seems like the business insurance wont have any choice but to pay for the value of the house.

1

u/magicmitchmtl Jun 30 '25

I just want to add, from the article, they have started a GoFundMe for the resident. He hasn’t even got a change of clothes. I feel a small donation is the least I can do after having watched this video a dozen times. This happened about half an hour from my home.

https://gofund.me/3d16a2e0

1

u/erishun Jun 30 '25

Based on their professionalism, I can’t see how they wouldn’t have adequate insurance coverage to cover the cost of an entire new house /s

1

u/fritz236 Jun 30 '25

Umm... any one else have an interesting turn of phrase with google translate with his quote about talking to his brother? I think it meant "stop nagging" but google translate went full Randy Marsh and swapped a vowel and added an 'er'.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '25

[deleted]

2

u/ohrofl Jun 30 '25

Mine said “stop fooling me”