Tree house: Dead tree city did not remove, lands on family home

A homeowner said that numerous calls to the city of Detroit to remove a dead tree has gone unanswered.

Now, the tree came down on top of her house. 

 "The house shook and after the house shook, it was just like, boom," said Taryn Sterling.

Sterling jumped out of bed at 4 a.m. Wednesday when this Detroit mother of three said it sounded like an earth quake outside my window.
 
Sterling says she enjoys nature, she likes trees, even tree houses but not like this.

She has rented the home on Marlowe Street for a couple of years now  and says her landlord tried to call the city to remove the old tree several times in the last few years - worried it would eventually fall.
 
"He said he's been trying to get this tree cut down since before we lived here," Sterling said. "The city told him he couldn't. He even offered to get his own contractors. They told him no."

Sterling's landlord Nathaniel Pugh also says when he called the city Wednesday morning, he was told it would take seven to 10 business days to come out and remove the tree.
 
"The kids can't come outside to play," Pugh said. "The kids can't sit inside and do anything because the tree is where their room is at."

Calling FOX 2 for help, Sterling says there was some confusion on whether or not the tree was on city property or private property.

But a half hour later, city crews were out chopping and sawing.

The city tells FOX 2 in almost every other case, a tree that is between the house and the sidewalk would be on private property. But on this block of Marlow it is one of the few in the city where city's property extends 10 feet - making it a city tree.

A spokesman for the mayor's office wants to remind Detroiters that downed trees can be reported quickly through the city's "Improve Detroit" phone app.

 Sterling says she's just happy someone responded.