Hydro One will soon begin cutting down about 100 trees in LaSalle and Windsor as they grow dangerously close to hydro lines.
The 230,000 volt line spans 6 kilometres between the two municipalities.
Hydro One Superintendent Jake Zink says some of the trees are overgrown and emergency maintenance is needed.
"It is a very critical circuit," says Zink. "It supplies power to some of the local utilities, both Enwin and Essex Powerlines, so we have got some tree conditions in there that need some work on short notice. By next week we will be in, we have to get them before the next growing season."
During the summer, the hydro lines sag so the trees need to be cut sooner rather than later.
Zink says trees don't actually have to contact lines or the conductors because electricity will bridge and air gap. Plus in the summer when everyone is running their air conditions, the lines will actually sag.
The corridor where the tree are located in LaSalle is accessible to the public around the LaSalle Woods area on Normandy St.
AM800 file photo
"You can have some very serious health concerns or safety concerns if anyone was near that at the time (when tree touches hydro line) and obviously it could put that circuit out too which would affect the power of many residents," says Zink.
Zink says the trees that will be cut in LaSalle are small saplings which are about six-years old.
Work is scheduled to last for four weeks.