Tree trimmers begin work ahead of rainstorm in Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – This week’s projected rain storm has crews from a Douglas Cicileo Tree & Arborist Services, a local tree service, getting busy in the Santa Barbara area.

"We’ve been doing mitigation on eucalyptus trees to try to prevent like damage like what happened last year with the heavy rains," said owner Douglas Cicileo of Douglas Cicileo Arborist and Tree Services.

Cicileo says during rainstorms trees can fall if the soil gets too wet. 

So crews are pruning trees in several neighborhoods including mesa school lane in Santa Barbara.

"Well, I noticed all week that the city took the eucalyptus so I’ve been trimming them over here in Mesa Lane and so that’s very helpful and there’s always a possibility of course at any tree will get too dry," said resident Denny Wayman of Santa Barbara.

Cicileo says his crew plans to be ready for any fallen trees across the city during the rainstorm.

“It’s really important it reduces … that we prune by end weight reduction, so we’re reducing the weight to the end of the branches to prevent the weight from pulling the trees over," said Cicileo.

During previous rainstorms, Cecileo says the heavy rains and high winds took down several types of trees in Santa Barbara including Monterey cypress, eucalyptus and more.

“My hope is that will green up everything and that you know will get the water that we’ve been needing and that all the lines will turn green and you know the grass of Wilcox, the trees of Wilcox sister much prettier time when it’s been raining," said Wayman.

"My hope Is that everything goes smoothly and we don’t have any trees they fall over and cause damage," said Cicileo.

Cicileo says trees that aren't properly trimmed can weaken and be more susceptible to damage from strong winds and heavy rain.

Right now, Cicileo’s crew is focused on removing any hazardous trees in neighborhoods including the area of Mesa School Lane.