Tree remover judgment mistake sends large oak crashing into Hoover home

A mistake by a tree removal company sent a large oak tree plummeting onto and into a Hoover house today.

The accident happened about 9 a.m. at 1772 Deo Dara Drive in Green Valley, one of Hoover's oldest communities.

Vincent Alfano, 83, lives in the house where the tree fell. He said he hired Robert Kimble Tree Service of Vance to take down an oak tree that had died in his front yard.

Alfano said Kimble and his workers had hooked a rope to a branch on the dead tree and attached the rope to a skid-steer loader to pull the tree away from the house when it started falling. But something went wrong and the tree, which was already leaning toward the house, fell on the corner of the house instead.

"It was just poor judgment," Alfano said. "They made too big of a (wedge) cut and didn't trim the tree enough."

Alfano's son, Jack Alfano of Vestavia Hills, was inside the house, taking a nap on the couch when the large tree came crashing into a bedroom on the corner of the house. "It sounded like the house exploded inside," Jack Alfano said.

Vincent Alfano said he has lived in the house for 50 years. "The tree had to be over 100 years old, he said. "It was a huge tree."

The oak caused damage to the bedroom and both the front and side brick walls. Vincent Alfano said he believes the wall on the side of the house was weakened to the point that the entire wall will have to be replaced.

Thankfully, Robert Kimble Tree Service was insured, he said. Alfano already has talked to Kimble's insurance company and soon will be talking with his own. Kimble arranged for another tree removal company with a crane to come get the tree off Alfano's house this afternoon. They'll cut it up more and remove it from the yard Wednesday, Alfano said.

It was just four years ago that lightning struck the house and caused a fire in the attic, Alfano said. It took 10 months to rebuild that time, he said.

But Alfano said he's not mad at Kimble, who has done work for him before.

"He's just human and made a mistake," he said. "It wasn't deliberate. You just screw up sometimes."

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