A Question for Utility Companies

Why wait until there’s an ice or wind storm to trim branches away from overhead lines, especially if you don’t want to bear the expense of burying said lines? When we lived in North Carolina, we had two ice storms that cut power to our neighborhood for two days each. Some folks lost power for a week with these storms. (One of my acquaintances had to board his kids’ pet iguana with friends because it was too cold at home for the poor reptile.) Similarly, we had a wind storm two Saturdays ago that knocked out power to our neighborhood for several hours and to the towns next to ours for a day or more. A few hours of work with a chain saw would prevent thousands of nasty phone calls and more than a few auto accidents.