Mature blue gum eucalyptus – the tall species planted across the Peninsula a century ago – earns its reputation from three habits:

• Sudden limb drop: blue gum sheds large limbs without warning, including on calm summer days
• Fire load: oily foliage, shedding bark, and deep litter make it one of the highest-fuel trees in California – which is why public agencies here have removed thousands
• Scale: at 100 to 150 feet with shallow anchorage on some soils, failures are consequential

Several local cities specifically exclude eucalyptus from their tree protection ordinances – removing one is often easier legally than removing an oak half its size. Not every eucalyptus needs to come down: weight reduction and crown maintenance manage many of them safely, but a mature blue gum within falling distance of a house deserves a professional risk assessment. We do both the assessment and the work, with our own 75 foot lifts and technical climbers.

The fire risk extends to Monterey cypress as well – it holds dry inner foliage and dense, resinous wood, and both species shed combustible litter continuously. Keep bark litter raked within 30 feet of structures, remove limbs overhanging roofs, and break up continuous rows or groves so fire cannot run from tree to tree.