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Indy mom saved thousands of dollars after RTV6 story prompts action to clean up downed tree

Posted at 9:20 PM, Sep 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-18 23:20:50-04

INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis mother has a clean yard days after calling RTV6 to help figure out who's responsible for removing a tree she says was dumped there. 

Ashley Lamb says the tree on her property fell on power lines near Kenwood Avenue and West 32nd Street a few weeks ago. 

Indianapolis Power and Lights came out to fix the power lines and trimmed the tree, throwing the debris in Lamb's yard. She reached out to RTV6’s Graham Hunter last week to get help cleaning it up, saying she didn’t believe it was her responsibility because it was IPL’s mess.

A spokesperson from IPL told RTV6 their crew trimmed the tree and left the debris because it was an “emergency situation” and state regulations say they don’t have to clean it up.

And it wasn't IPL that came to the rescue. 

"I woke up this morning and met with the gas company, and he said that by 11 it would be cleaned up and sure enough, they came out and within 35-40 minutes it was all gone," said Lamb. 

A Citizen's Energy crew that fixed a gas line in the area from the incident came back out Tuesday morning and took care of the tree, even though it wasn't their responsibility. 

"We knew this homeowner was just in a tricky spot having a lot of trouble figuring out who's responsibility it was who was ultimately going to be removing the tree," said Corporate Communications Coordinator for Citizen's Energy Laura O'Brien. "We, of course, didn't want it to become a bigger issue than it was for the homeowner, since we were already out here we thought it's just the right thing to do and went ahead and took care of it."

Initially, the Marion County Health Department had issued a notice to the family saying they had 12 days to clean the tree up or they could face fines up to $2,500 per day.

But the health department says they decided to close their case after finding out that IPL had trimmed the tree and left it in the family’s yard. 

If you ever come up against a problem that feels hopeless, RTV6 wants to Work For YOU to help. You can reach out to us through our Facebook page, Twitter, email address or by using the CONTACT USsection on our web page. 

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