How to prevent a tree branch from falling onto your house

I took these photos one morning when I saw a neighbour in a kroma on a tree. He was trying to cut down a branch of this dead tree because he was afraid the rotting branch would fall on his house. At first I thought he was trying to make a pulley to pull the offending branch. But he made a wooden bridge and then proceeded to chop down the branch.
And this is what the magnificent tree looked like in July, against a stormy backdrop.