A shoot and a stump are all what’s been left of what was a 65- foot mature Linden tree within the entrance yard of Brad and Elayne Rix.
Just a few toes away, there’s one other stump of what was a big Horse Chestnut tree.
“It’s devastating,” Brad Rix mentioned.
Each have been pruned by Fortis BC within the fall of 2023 as branches have been perilously near energy strains.
“They minimize over two-thirds of the Linden,” Rix mentioned.
Rix mentioned he had no alternative however to complete the job himself and take away the bushes fully.
“It was horrible to take a look at,” he mentioned. “The bushes don’t even seem like bushes anymore.”
Whereas Rix, a former Fortis lineman himself, is aware of all about tree security round powerlines, it’s the way in which the ability big goes about it that has prompted him and his spouse to take authorized motion.
The couple filed a declare in small claims courtroom on Feb. 25 naming Fortis and a neighborhood tree firm because the defendants.
They’re are searching for $35,000 in compensation for all of the related out-of-pocket bills.
“We’ve had estimates on what the worth of the bushes have been earlier than they have been minimize by knowledgeable arborist….there was the price of the bushes, there was the price of the elimination completely, as a result of we couldn’t take a look at what they’ve accomplished,” Rix mentioned.
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“There are prices pending due to irrigation now as a result of we don’t have that cover extra so there shall be landscaping prices added to that as nicely.”
As well as, the couple hopes the authorized motion prompts higher communication with householders and extra considerate trimming practices.
“They didn’t have to do this,” Rix mentioned.
Final spring, one other Kelowna resident, Giulio Di Palma, got here residence to search out his Spruce tree half gone.
“I used to be shocked,” Di Palma mentioned in Might of 2024. “Disappointment, upset, violated.”
Just a few blocks away, Gordy Charles had an identical expertise.
Charles was away on trip and got here residence to search out nearly two handful of his bushes trimmed.
“It simply makes me really feel sick,” Charles advised International Information final spring. “The bushes have been brutalized.”
Within the wake of the criticism, Fortis acknowledged it might conduct an inside assessment of its trimming practices.
On Wednesday, when contacted by International Information in regards to the assessment and its end result, the corporate acknowledged in an electronic mail, “We’re working extra intently with municipalities and, the place attainable, stepping up notifications at a neighborhood stage to let the general public know when this work is underway of their space.”
Whereas it’s too late for Brad and Elayne Rix, they hope by elevating the difficulty, householders and their bushes are given extra consideration transferring ahead.
“Let’s get a constructive resolution from what we’re going by way of right here, in order that different folks don’t should undergo this,” Brad Rix mentioned.
In a press release of defence, Fortis denies the work was extreme or negligent.
Not one of the allegations have been confirmed in courtroom.
© 2025 International Information, a division of Corus Leisure Inc.
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