About Trees

Planted in the right place, a tree can add beauty and value to your home and make your community a nicer place to live. In the summer, trees shade your house from the sun and reduce the temperature indoors. In the winter, trees act as windbreakers, shielding your home from cold winter winds.

However, if planted under or near power lines, trees can also be a deadly hazard. Children and adults playing or working in trees that come in contact with power lines can be seriously or even fatally shocked. Trees that grow into power lines can also cause unnecessary power outages.

Using common sense and the "right-tree-right-place" guidelines below, you can enjoy the beauty and value of a tree without having to worry about the dangers posed when a tree is located near power lines.

Before You Plant:

Before you plant a tree, make sure the location is out of the way of overhead and underground power lines and other utilities.

For GWP’s help locating underground lines in your area, call (818) 548-4861 at least 48 hours before you dig. As a rule of thumb, do not plant trees or shrubs that will be 25 feet tall or higher and whose trunks and branches will reach within ten feet of power lines when fully grown.

Selecting the Right Tree:

Some of the trees most commonly associated with Southern California including Palm, Eucalyptus, Ash, Elm, Mulberry, Silk–Oak and Avocado trees are also among the worst to plant near power lines.

Palm trees cause a lot of GWP’s vegetation-related outages every year. Tinder-dry palm fronds fall during high winds and strike power lines. The fronds may catch fire which can then ignite wood roof shingles, dry fields, and other flammable materials on which they land. Because of their height and aerodynamic shape, the fronds can cause fires and outages many blocks away from where the palm tree is located.

List of trees that GWP recommends for planting under power lines.