Clearing or trimming trees is a big job for many property owners, and it can be expensive to hire someone to do it. 

However, the death of a man yesterday has renewed warnings about trying dangerous work without the right gear, or experience.

A 49-year-old man was killed in Oro-Medonte, when the tree he was cutting down fell on him.

Emergency crews were called to a property near Moonstone where the man was cutting dead trees for firewood. The man was pinned beneath a beech tree after it fell the wrong way. 

His two sons, who are in their 20s, tried to free their father but couldn't save him.

Trees are an essential part of every neighbourhood and every landscape but sometimes they need to come down because they are diseased or just too big. Leslie Ross-Sykes didn't want to remove the tree from her yard but decided it had to go.

“The roots were getting under the stone deck and popping everything up,” the Thornbury resident says.

Matthew Maciejowski has had to deal with large trees in his yard too, but says calling in a arborist can be expensive, so he was planning to cut what he can from a ladder until a friend was seriously hurt doing the exact same thing.

“He was on a ladder and the ladder slipped a little bit, he jumped and broke both legs,” Maciejowski says.

A recent study by the Tree Care Industry Association found that the majority of civilian tree cutting fatalities were the result of being hit by a falling tree. The second leading cause of death was a fall from a ladder.

Serious chainsaw injuries are also common. Statistically, tree cutting is one of the most dangerous jobs there is, so appropriate safety equipment is essential. Felling a tree can also risk damaging cars, houses and other trees.

Nathan Bellamy with Axess Arborist Services recommends calling a certified and insured arborist. He says trees can be full of surprises and arborists are trained to spot the hazards.

“Is it within striking distance of any objects?” he says. “Are there cracks, tears, hollows? Whatever the case may be, we get called to situations where it’s all of the above. So it's necessary to use ropes and blocks and tackles and multiple workers.”

Bellamy says the best way to save some money on tree removal is to find an arborist who is willing to do the dangerous work while letting the property owner take care of some of the cleanup.