Birch trees here blow over with the root ball, spruce snap off a few feet above the ground. Usually in winter wind storms.
After a birch came thru the garage wall one christmas, that summer, all the old growth trees with in range of the house became firewood
Big trees are nice shade trees, but the size & weight of the big trees back east, any within range of any house should be pruned or become fire wood.
IMO, the home owners need to be responsible for their trees & keep their property maintained or have extra insurance.
Seems to be allot of wind blown big trees causing allot of damage;
Time to fire up some chain saws & do some preventive maintenance on any tree near homes & power lines.
When trees are on ROW,s if the home owner don't want the tree fell or pruned,
have them take out an extra insurance policy for any damage it may do, they may re-consider their options.
If you had to pay for the damage your tree/s caused, you may be a little more "pro-active" in keeping it/them safe
There'd be lots of fire wood available for a few years to be scrounged LOL
Pic in this thread is to my point, why is a tree this tall & huge growing near a house, road or power line ? We all know it is eventually going to fall. Duh.