Photo: Fallen Tree Left On Power Lines Creates Dangerous Situation

A large tree tumbled from the Brighton line subway abutment into an adjacent empty lot, leaving part of the tree hanging from a power line and putting considerable stress on it.

We’re not sure when this happened, but we spotted it today. We last passed this lot on East 15th Street, between Avenue X and Avenue Y, two or three weeks ago and the fallen tree was not there.

Given that the lot and easement is full of dead trees, weathered wooden planks and dry leaves, if the power line snaps we foresee a pretty bad situation. The lot is also surrounded on either side by older wood-based homes, making them particularly vulnerable to a fire if the lines do snap, sending sparks everywhere.

There is no open complaint found for this problem on the 311 website, so we opened one. We’ll keep an eye on it to see how long it takes to fix this dangerous situation.